1  S  6  1  19  11 

FIFTIETH  ANNIVERSARY 

OF  THE 

Fourth  Iowa  Veteran  Infantry 

Dodge's  Second  Iowa  Battery 

Dodge's  Band 

AS  GUESTS 

Society  Army  of  The  Tennessee 

COUNCIL  BLUFFS,  IOWA 

OCTOBER  10  AND  11,  1911 


this  600^  has  been 
digitized  through 
the  generosity  of 

Robert  O.  Blissard 
Class  of  1957 


I 


University  of  Illinois  Library  at  Urbana-Champaign 


GRENVILLE  M.  DODGE 

First  Colonel  Fourth  Iowa  Infantry 
M.  G.  U.  S.  V. 


JAMES  A.  WILLIAMSON 

Second  Colonel  Fourth  Iowa  Infantry 

B.  G.  U.  S.  V. 


N.  T.  SPOOR 
First  Captain  Dodge's  Second  Iowa  Battery 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign 


http://www.archive.org/details/fiftiethanniversOOdodg 


JOSEPH  R.  REED 
Second  Captain  Dodge's  Second  Iowa  Battery 


i86i  1911 

FIFTIETH 
ANNIVERSARY 

Fourth  Iowa  Veteran   Infantry 

Dodge's  Second  Iowa  Battery 

Dodge's  Band 

AS   GUESTS 

Society  Army  of  the  Tennessee 


Council  Bluffs,  Iowa 
OCTOBER  10  AND  11,  191 1 


INTRODUCTORY 


The  Society  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  invited  the  Iowa 
Commandery  of  the  Military  Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion,  the  Fourth 
Iowa  Veteran  Infantry,  Dodge's  Second  Iowa  Battery  and  Dodge's 
Band  to  join  with  them  in  celebrating  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of 
their  enlistment  at  their  Forty-first  Eeunion  at  Council  Bluffs, 
Iowa,  on  October  10th  and  11th,  1911,  it  also  being  the  Fiftieth  An- 
niversary of  the  enlistment  of  all  these  organizations  in  the  Civil 
War.  The  State  of  Iowa,  the  City  of  Council  Bluffs  and  the  Com- 
mercial and  Elks'  Clubs  also  extended  an  invitation  to  all  these  or- 
ganizations. This  booklet  is  compiled  by  Major  General  G-renville 
M.  Dodge,  giving  the  proceedings  and  addresses  at  the  meeting  of 
the  Fourth  Iowa  Veteran  Infantry,  Dodge's  Second  Iowa  Battery 
and  Dodge's  Band. 


o 


INVITATION 


The  following  invitation  was  given  to  the  press  and  sent  out  to 
every  known  living  member  of  the  Fourth  Iowa  Veteran  Infantry, 
Dodge's  Second  Iowa  Battery  and  Dodge's  Band: 

Council  Bluffs,  Iowa,  April  22,  1911. 
To  Our  Comrades  of  the  Fourth  Iowa  Infantry  and  Dodge's  Battery. 

My  Dear  Comrade  : — The  Society  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennes- 
see and  the  Military  Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion  of  Iowa  hold  their 
next  Eeunion  jointly  at  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa,  on  October  10th  and 
11th,  1911.  The  Society  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  and  the  City 
of  Council  Bluffs  have  invited  the  survivors  of  th  Fourth  Iowa  In- 
fantry and  Dodge's  Battery,  known  as  the  Second  Iowa  Battery, 
which  was  organized  at  Council  Bluffs  in  June,  1861,  and  taken 
into  the  field  by  us,  to  meet  with  them  in  commemorating  the 
Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  our  enlistment.  We  hope  every  living  mem- 
ber of  both  organizations,  with  their  families,  will  make  an  effort  to 
attend.  Arrangements  have  been  made  to  take  care  of  all  the 
Fourth  Iowa  and  Dodge's  Battery  members  who  attend,  so  their 
only  expense  will  be  the  railroad  fare. 

We  enclose  a  postal  on  which  please  make  known  whether  or  not 
you  can  attend.  Circulars  giving  full  particulars  will  be  sent  you 
later.  Also,  please  send  us  the  name  and  address  of  any  Comrade 
you  know,  of  either  organization.    Truly, 

GrRENVILLE  M.  DODGE, 

Late  Col.  4th  Iowa  Infantry. 
Joseph  R.  Seed, 

Late  Capt.  2d  Iowa  Battery. 


Fiftieth  Anniversary  Fourth  Iowa  Veteran  Infan- 
try, Dodge's  Second  Iowa  Battery, 
and  Dodge's  Band 


The  Fourth  Iowa  Veteran  Infantry  and  Dodge's  Band  had  their 
headquarters  at  the  Neumayer  Hotel — the  Second  Iowa  Battery  at 
the  Kiel  Hotel. 

At  1 :30  P.  M.  on  October  10th,  these  two  organizations  assem- 
bled at  the  Neumayer  Hotel,  and  escorted  by  the  Dodge  Light 
Guards,  which  are  the  successors  of  Company  B,  Fourth  Iowa  Vet- 
eran Infantry,  and  led  by  the  Council  Bluffs  band,  they  marched  to 
the  Elks'  Club  for  their  Eeunion  meeting.  The  hall  was  crowded. 
Major-General  Grenville  M.  Dodge,  the  first  Colonel  of  the  Fourth 
Iowa,  presided,  and  addressed  the  veterans  as  follows : 

ADDRESS  OF  MAJOR-GENERAL  GRENVILLE  M.  DODGE. 

Comrades  of  the  Fourth  Iowa  Infantry,  Dodge's  Battery,  Dodge's 

Second  Artillery,  and  Dodge's  Band: 

You  have  no  conception  of  the  pleasure  and  satisfaction  it  is  to 
me  to  meet  you  on  this  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  our  enlistment  here 
at  this  place  and  going  into  the  Civil  War.  If  you  look  back  to 
those  years  and  then  look  forward  and  see  what  the  growth  of  this 
country  is,  what  its  development  is,  and  then  know  that  it  was  your 
service  and  the  service  of  all  our  Comrades  that  made  this  possible. 
When  we  go  back  to  those  years  we  think  of  nothing  but  war,  we 
talk  over  our  campaigns,  our  battles  and  our  marches,  and  we  never 
think  of  what  the  results  of  the  war  were.  And  that  is  what  should 
be  in  the  minds  of  all  of  you  who  have  had  the  blessing  of  living 
these  fifty  years  to  see  the  development  that  has  come  in  that  time 
which  under  normal  conditions  without  the  war  would  have  taken 
at  least  a  hundred.    That  is  the  assertion  of  General  Sherman. 

Now,  my  Comrades,  I  have  written  here  a  short  statement  of 
my  service  with  you.  I  have  condensed  it  because  we  have  not  very 
much  time  today.  *  It  is  a  singular  fact  that  the  reports  of  your 
Regiment  in  the  War  Records  do  not  give  you   justioo   for   what 


you  have  done.  You  will  see  that  as  I  read  my  paper.  There  has 
been  no  history  yet  written  of  the  Fourth  Iowa,  and  the  records  in 
Des  Moines  are  meager.  I  have  written  simply  my  own  service  with 
you  and  then  given  a  short  statement  of  your  service  from  then  on. 
I  will  read  it  to  you. 

The  Fourth  Iowa  Infantry  was  organized  under  the  proclama- 
tion of  the  President  dated  May  3d,  1861.  It  rendezvoused  at  Coun- 
cil Bluffs  and  was  recruited  in  the  Counties  of  Mills,  Pottawatta- 
mie, Cass,  Fremont,  Guthrie,  Harrison,  Monana,  O'Brien,  Adair, 
Shelby,  Taylor,  Polk,  Decatur,  Einggold,  Warren,  Madison,  Dallas, 
Union,  Adams  and  Wayne.  The  first  Company  to  report  was  Com- 
pany A  of  Mills  County.  The  second  was  Company  B  from  Coun- 
cil Bluffs.  This  Company  was  organized  in  1856  as  the  Council 
Bluffs  Guards.  Its  first  Captain  was  G.  M.  Dodge  and  it  was  the 
first  Company  to  offer  its  services  in  the  State  of  Iowa  in  the  Civil 
War.  This  was  on  April  12,  1861.  It  was  declined  because  it  was 
a  Company  raised  on  the  frontier  for  the '  purpose  of  protection 
against  the  Indians,  and  when  the  Civil  War  broke  out  the  Governor 
thought  it  was  necessary  to  retain  it  there  on  account  of  our  being 
so  near  the  Missouri  state  line.  This  Company  maintained  its  or- 
ganization after  the  war  and  entered  the  Spanish  war  as  Company 
L  of  the  Fifty-first  Iowa  Infantry.  On  returning  from  the  Spanish 
War  it  maintained  its  organization  as  the  Dodge  Light  Guards  as 
Compan  L  of  the  Fifty-fifth  Begiment  of  the  Iowa  National  Guard, 
which  has  the  record  for  the  longest  organized  military  force  in  the 
State  and  having  taken  part  in  two  wars.  It  honored  us  today  by 
escorting  us  to  this  hall. 

The  Companies  began  assembling  at  Camp  Kirkwood,  Council 
Bluffs,  in  June,  but  their  organization  and  mustering  in  was  de- 
layed on  account  of  their  being  ordered  in  July  to  the  Missouri  state 
line  to  repel  the  threatened  invasion  of  the  rebel  force  of  that  state 
under  Colonel  Freeman.  When  they  arrivd  there,  Freeman's  forces 
disbanded  or  scattered,  and  so  we  returned  to  Council  Bluffs. 

On  August  8th,  1861,  eight  Companies  moved  by  order  of  Gen- 
eral John  C.  Fremont  to  St.  Louis  and  camped  at  Jefferson  Bar- 
racks and  on  the  same  date  were  mustered  in  and  immediately  went 
to  Bolla,  Missouri.  Companies  I  and  K  reached  Bolla,  Missouri,  a 
short  time  afterwards,  so  the  Regiemnt  was  all  together.  Its  officers 
were :  Colonel,  G.  M.  Dodge ;  Lieutenant  Colonel,  John  Galligan ; 
Major,  W.  E.  English;  Adjutant,  James  A.  Williamson;  Quarter- 
master, Phineas  A.  Wheeler;  Surgeon,  M.  W.  Eobbins;  Assistant 


Surgeon,  W.  S.  Grimes.     The  Captains  of  the  different  Companies 
were  as  follows : 

Company  A — Thomas  H.  Head. 
Company  B — W.  H.  Kinsman. 
Company  C — Thomas  Seeley. 
Company  D — George  Burton. 
Company  E — Henry  H.  Griffith. 
Company  F — Henry  J.  B.  Cummins. 
Company  G — Samuel  Eice. 
Company  H — Elmer  Y.  Burgan. 
Company    I — William  E.  Taylor. 
Company  K — Joseph  Cramer. 

The  regiment  at  Eolla  was  only  partially  uniformed.  It  was 
armed  with  the  old  Prussian  muskets,  and  when  they  were  fired, 
thirteen  of  them  bursted.  It  was  with  great  difficulty  that  I 
obtained  the  clothing  necessary  to  put  the  regiment  in  presentable 
order.  I  had  to  go  to  St.  Louis  myself  to  obtain  the  clothing,  arms, 
equipment,  etc. 

While  we  were  lying  at  Eolla  there  were  all  kinds  of  reports 
sent  to  General  Fremont  of  the  enemy  being  in  our  front,  and  it 
kept  me  sending  out  detachments  all  the  time  to  ascertain  the  truth. 
You  will  remember  our  march  across  the  Gusconade,  wading  it  on 
a  cold,  sleety  day.  I  knew  when  the  reports  came  to  me  that  there 
was  no  truth  in  them,  as  I  had  scouts  scattered  over  Southwest 
Missouri  of  Captain  White's  independent  company  to  keep  me 
posted.  I  used  to  answer  these  reports  by  stating  that  there  was 
no  enemy  near  us.  Finally  General  Fremont  ordered  me  to  report 
to  him  at  St.  Louis.  I  went  there  and  reported  to  his  Adjutant- 
General.  I  stayed  there  two  days  without  being  able  to  see  him, 
then  came  back  to  Eolla.  I  had  hardly  reached  Eolla  when  I 
received  a  telegram  from  General  Fremont  asking  me  why  I  had 
not  reported.  I  answered  that  I  had  been  in  St.  Louis 'two  days 
and  could  not  see  him,  and  had  returned  to  my  command.  I  made 
up  my  mind  when  I  went  to  St.  Louis  this  time  T  would  nol  reporl 
to  the  Adjutant-General  or  his  staff  officers,  so  I  took  a  package 
of  papers  in  my  hand,  and  at  the  Thomas  II.  Bentop  residence  1 
walked  up  the  steps,  pushed  by  the  guards  who  slopped  me,  and 
walked  in  and  reported  to  General  Fremont.  My  interview  with 
him  did  not  indicate  really  what  he  wanted  of  me.  1  explained 
to  him  fully  that  there  was  no  enemy,  as  far  as  I  knew,  anywhere 

—9— 


within  our  reach,  and  also  that  we  were  very  anxious  to  move  when 
he  moved  upon  the  enemy,  but  as  you  know,  when  he  marched  to 
Springfield  he  left  us  at  Rolla,  taking  only  one  regiment  away 
from  us. 

The  regiment  remained  at  Rolla  until  January  22,  1862,  when 
it  became  a  part  of  the  Army  of  the  Southwest,  commanded  by 
General  Samuel  R.  Curtis.  While  there  it  built  very  commodious 
log  barracks  for  each  company  and  its  officers,  and  while  we  were 
complimented  very  highly  for  building  these  barracks,  it  has  always 
been  a  question  in  my  mind  whether  we  had  not  better  have  stayed 
in  tents.  Those  of  you  who  were  there  know  that  our  hospitals 
were  full  of  boys  with  every  possible  disease — measles,  mumps, 
pneumonia,  and  in  my  experience  during  the  war,  I  find  that  the 
boys  were  more  healthy  in  tents  than  in  barracks. 

You  will  all  remember  that  when  at  Rolla,  and  whenever  I  had 
an  opportunit}r,  I  drilled  the  regiment  thoroughly.  I  took  it  out, 
exercising  it  in  firing,  in  movements,  and  even  taking  it  through 
the  brush  and  timber  so  as  to  give  them  practice  in  any  condition 
they  might  meet.  The  boys  protested  and  complained  a  great 
deal.  The  other  regiments  got  no  such  drilling,  and  the  Fourth 
Iowa  thought  that  there  was  no  necessity  for  it.  They  wore  out 
their  clothes  and  shoes,  and  they  had  very  little  use  for  their 
Colonel  at  this  time,  but  when  they  had  an  opportunity  to  see  how 
much  benefit  this  drilling  was  to  them  when  they  got  into  action 
they  looked  differently  upon  it. 

The  Army  of  the  Southwest  was  organized  in  January,  in 
which  the  Fourth  Iowa  was  a  part  of  the  First  Brigade,  commanded 
by  Colonel  G.  M.  Dodge  of  the  Fourth  Division,  commanded  by 
Colonel  E.  A.  Carr  of  General  Curtis'  army.  We  moved  to  Spring- 
field, Missouri,  and  lined  up  in  front  of  that  city  about  3  o'clock 
A.  M.,  supposing  that  the  enemy  was  in  the  city.  General  Seigle, 
who  was  on  the  extreme  right,  opened  his  canon.  I  put  out  a 
skirmish  line,  Company  E  of  the  Fourth  Iowa,  to  find  the  enemy, 
and  about  one  hour  later  I  tried  to  find  them,  and  not  being  able 
to  do  so,  I  was  greatly  alarmed,  thinking  perhaps  they  had  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  but  Company  E  had  skirmished  into 
Springfield  and  captured  it,  and  about  daylight  they  came  out 
mounted  on  a  lot  of  crobates,  mules,  etc.,  which  the  enemy  had  left 
there,  and  with  all  kinds  of  toggery  on  them,  to  the  great  amuse- 
ment of  the  regiment. 

From  there  we  followed  General  Price  in  his  retreat;  he  halted 

— 10— 


at  every  stream  and  we  lined  up  to  fight  him.  The  boys  stripped 
off  their  knapsacks,  threw  away  their  provisions  which  they  had 
foraged  until  about  the  third  time  that  we  lined  up.  When  I 
called  upon  the  boys  to  strip,  several  hollered  out  to  me,  "No  you 
don't,  Colonel ;  we  ain't  going  to  lay  down  anything  now.  We  have 
fed  that  Thirty-fifth  Illinois  long  enough."  The  Thirty-fifth 
Illinois  were  following  us,  and,  of  course,  gobbled  up  all  tlje 
chickens,  sweet  potatoes,  etc.,  which  the  Fourth  Iowa  had  thrown 
down. 

On  this  campaign  we  had  as  our  quartermaster  Captain  Phil 
Sheridan.  When  he  first  came  to  us  at  Eolla  he  came  to  me  as 
Commander  of  the  Post  and  asked  me  to  issue  an  order  stripping 
every  regiment  of  its  transportation,  leaving,  I  think,  two  wagons 
to  each  regiment.  I  issued  that  order  and  it  brought  a  protest 
from  every  command  at  Eolla;  they  not  only  protested  to  me  but 
they  telegraphed  their  Governors  and  members  of  Congress  protest- 
ing against  the  outrage.  I  saw  that  I  had  a  difficult  problem  on 
my  hands.  Captain  Sheridan  was  watching  to  see  how  I  would 
solve  it — whether  I  would  "lay  down"  or  carry  it  through.  I  went 
out  and  stripped  my  own  regiment  first,  turning  over  all  the  wagons 
except  two  or  three.  They  made  no  protest.  Then  I  called  upon 
the  others  to  do  the  same,  sending  a  very  sharp  note  to  the  com- 
manders of  the  regiments,  and  they  followed  suit.  My  action 
pleased  Captain  Sheridan  very  much.  On  our  marches  Captain 
Sheridan  fed  us  by  calling  for  details  from  each  regiment  in  all  the 
commands,  but  the  Germans  refused  to  make  the  details  and  General 
Curtis  did  not  seem  disposed  to  enforce  it,  so  that  Sheridan,  who 
generally  tented  with  me,  would  finally  come  to  me  and  I  would 
detail  for  him  out  of  the  Fourth  Iowa  to  make  up  what  he  was 
lacking.  Sheridan  showed  his  great  ability  as  a  soldier  in  the  way 
he  fed  us.  He  had  details  out  at  every  mill.  He  foraged  over 
the  country  for  fifty  miles,  and  it  was  sparsely  settled.  Even  if 
you  travel  over  it  today  you  will  wonder  how  12,000  men  could  be 
supplied  as  they  marched  through.  You  know  our  army  had  to  be 
fed  mostly  off  the  country.  We  had  no  railroad  or  water  communi- 
cations and  we  marched  four  or  five  hundred  miles  into  the  enemy's 
country. 

Sheridan  in  his  Memoirs  pays  a  very  high  compliment  to  you. 
He  says: 

Colonel  G.  M.  Dodge  so  greatly  sustained  me  with  General 
Curtis  by  strong  moral  support  and  by  Buch  efficienl  details  from 

—ll— 


his  regiment — the  Fourth  Iowa  Volunteer  Infantry — that  I  shall 
bear  him  and  it  great  affection  and  lasting  gratitude. 

You  will  remember  the  midnight  march  on  March  5th,  1861, 
from  the  Cross  Hollows  back  to  Sugar  Creek;  that  there  was  snow 
on  the  ground;  that  it  was  a  cold,  sleety  night,  and  the  boys  set 
fire  to  the  old  deserted  log  houses  to  warm  themselves  by,  and  that- 
on  the  morning  of  March  6th  we  lined  up  behind  Sugar  Creek  and 
commenced  entrenching  and  slashing  down  the  timber.  About  4 
o'clock  that  afternoon  one  of  my  scouts,  belonging  to  Captain 
White's  Independent  Company,  came  to  me  and  informed  me  that 
the  enemy  was  moving  north  on  the  Bentonville  and  Cassville 
road;  that  there  was  a  deep  ravine  which  the  road  passed  through 
which  could  be  blockaded  by  felling  timber  in  it.  I  went  to  General 
Curtis  immediately  to  report  these  facts,  and  he  ordered  me  to 
take  part  of  my  command  and  one  company  of  the  Third  Iowa 
Cavalry  and  blockade  the  road.  It  was  night  when  we  started.  I 
took  the  Fourth  Iowa  and  these  two  companies  of  the  Third  Iowa 
Cavalry  with  me,  and  the  scout  guided  us.  Two  companies  under 
Captain  Nichols  got  lost  on  the  march  and  crossed  the  Cassville 
road.  The  rest  of  us  followed  the  road  to  the  ravine  and  felled  the 
timber  on  each  side  of  the  road  for  a  long  distance  until  it  was 
completely  blocked.  When  we  returned  about  midnight  we  could 
hear  the  enemy  coming,  and  I  was  fearful  they  would  cut  off  the 
two  Fourth  Iowa  companies,  but  Captain  Nichols  found  they  had 
missed  us  and  returned  to  camp  before  the  enemy  came  up. 

General  Sterling  Price  in  his  report  said  that  the  blockading  of 
this  road  held  him  until  after  daylight,  as  they  had  no  tools  or  axes 
to  clear  the  road,  which  prevented  him  from  attacking  us  as 
planned  at  daylight.  I  was  so  sure  that  the  enemy  was  in  our  rear 
that  when  I  went  to  the  conference  of  officers  at  the  little  log 
schoolhouse,  you  will  remember  I  took  my  brigade  with  me  so  that 
when  General  Curtis  heard  the  firing  near  the  Elkhorn  Tavern 
between  8  and  9  o'clock  that  morning,  he  saw  my  command  and 
asked  whose  it  was,  and  when  I  answered  he  ordered  me  to  proceed 
to  the  Elkhorn  Tavern  and  see  what  this  firing  meant.  I  soon 
discovered  that  there  was  a  large  force  of  the  enemy  in  our  rear, 
and  Colonel  Carr,  who  was  with  us,  sent  for  his  whole  division  and 
this  opened  the  battle  of  Pea  Eidge. 

Wherever  I  put  the  regiment  during  those  three  days,  there  it 
stood.  General  Price,  with  three  times  its  number,  could  not  move 
it.     He  sent  word  to  me  by  Hospital  Steward  Baker  complimenting 

—12— 


the  "black-coated  fighters/'  as  he  called  them.  Of  course,  we  were 
all  inexperienced  and  did  not  know  when  we  should  have  gotten  out. 
The  enemy  was  around  both  of  our  flanks  and  in  our  rear,  when 
Colonel  Carr  fell  back  from  the  Elkhorn  Tavern  with  the  Second 
Brigade;  the  regiment  had  no  knowledge  of  it,  and  when  I  sent 
Adjutant  Williamson  back  afterwards  to  the  Elkhorn  Hotel,  where 
the  other  brigade  had  been  fighting,  he  ran  into  the  enemy  and  a 
whole  regiment  fired  at  him,  but  fortunately  did  not  hit  him. 
During  the  battle  part  of  the  Eighth  Indiana  and  Third  Illinois 
Cavalry  were  sent  to  our  aid  and  fought  gallantly.  When  we  moved 
out,  about  dark,  having  expended  all  our  ammunition,  we  passed 
right  by  one  column  of  the  enemy,  they  supposing  we  were  a  part 
of  their  force.  You  all  know  when  we  got  back  to  the  new  line 
formed  by  the  Second  Brigade  and  Asbooth's  command,  which  had 
been  brought  there,  that  General  Curtis  met  you  and  ordered  the 
charge.  You  charged  back  over  the  field  you  had  fought  over,  the 
enemy  having  left  it,  as  well  as  ourselves. 

At  the  Battle  of  Pea  Eidge,  in  which  this  regiment  fought  three 
days  and  so  greatly  distinguished  itself,  its  loss  was  greater  in  killed 
and  wounded  than  that  of  any  other  regiment  in  that  army,  and 
there  came  in  the  benefit  of  all  the  discipline  and  drilling  they  had 
had,  for  during  the  battle,  and  after  it,  every  man  was  accounted 
for.     There  were  no  stragglers. 

The  Adjutant,  Lieutenant  J.  A.  Williamson,  makes  the  following 
report  of  its  action  during  those  three  days : 

"On  the  morning  of  the  7th  of  March  it  was  known  that  the 
enemy  were  advancing  and  attacking  our  army  in  the  rear,  when  the 
regiment,  in  pursuance  of  orders  from  Colonel  Dodge,  marched 
about  two  miles  from  camp  and  took  position  near  the  Elkhorn 
Tavern,  on  the  right  of  the  brigade,  and  to  the  right  of  the  Spring- 
field road  going  north,  near  the  southern  outlet  of  the  Ozark  Pass. 
Two  companies  were  deployed  as  skirmishers  to  the  front,  and  soon 
became  desperately  engaged  with  the  enemy,  who  poured  shot,  shell 
and  minie  balls  into  their  ranks  incessantly  for  two  hours,  but 
owing  to  the  dense  timber  our  loss  at  this  poinl  was  not  very  great. 
The  left  wing  of  the  division,  and  also  the  left  of  Colonel  Dodge's 
Brigade,  was  now  desperately  engaged.  Colonel  Dodge  ordered  his 
lines  to  be  closed,  and  waited  the  attack,  in  the  meantime  keeping 
his  skirmishers  and  one  section  of  the  First  Iowa  Battery  at  work 
until  about  2  o'clock,  when  the  enemy  ceased  firing  and  drew  back. 
Colonel  Dodge  changed  front  to  the  right,  which  left  the  regiment 

—13— 


on  the  extreme  right  of  the  brigade,  as  well  as  of  the  whole  army. 
The  line  being  formed  and  our  skirmishers  drawn  in  and  in  their 
places  in  line  of  battle,  the  regiment,  in  common  with  others, 
awaited  the  concentrated  attack  of  the  enemy,  whom  we  saw  pre- 
paring for  it.  We  did  not  wait  long.  The  attack  was  made  with 
apparently  ten  times  our  number,  accompanied  with  the  most  ter- 
rific cannonading  with  grape,  canister,  solid  shot  and  shell.  For 
fully  'three  hours  the  regiment  stood  under  this  terrible  fire,  which 
dealt  death  to  its  ranks.  The  regiment  being  flanked  on  the  right 
by  a  greatly  superior  force  of  the  enemy,  and  their  artillery  being 
in  a  position  to  completely  enfilade  its  fields,  leaving  the  left  exposed, 
which  was  also  flanked,  it  was  compelled  to  fall,  hard  pressed  by 
the  overwhelming  numbers  of  the  enemy,  to  the  open  fields,  where 
it  was  met  by  General  Curtis,  who  ordered  it  to  fix  bayonets  and 
charge  back  upon  the  enemy,  which  it  did  gallantly,  eliciting  from 
the  General  in  his  official  report  this  highest  meed  of  praise,  'This 
regiment  won  immortal  honors/  It  being  now  dark,  and  the  enemy 
having  ceased  firing,  the  regiment,  after  having  lost  in  killed  and 
wounded  almost  one-half  of  those  actually  engaged,  marched  back 
to  camp,  partook  of  a  scanty  repast,  and  immediately  commenced 
preparations  for  the  deadly  conflict  impending  for  the  succeeding 
day,  filling  their  cartridge  boxes  and  cleaning  their  guns,  which 
had  become  very  foul.  This  being  done,  the  regiment  was  marched 
back  and  bivouacked  on  the  field  until  daylight,  soon  after  which 
the  fight  was  resumed  by  artillery. 

"The  regiment  took  its  place  again  to  the  extreme  right,  march- 
ing forward  in  line  of  battle,  pursuing  the  enemy,  who  commenced 
retreating  early.  It  pursued  the  enemy  until  it  had  orders  to  halt. 
Soon  after  this,  orders  were  given  to  march  back  to  the  battle-ground 
of  the  previous  day  and  go  into  camp.  The  mention  of  individual 
acts  of  bravery  could  not  be  made  without  being  invidious. 

"General  Dodge  in  his  report  of  the  brigade  says :  'The  list  of. 
killed  and  wounded  in  the  brigade  shows  that  it  fought  against  fear- 
ful odds  and  disputed  the  field  with  great  stubbornness ;  every  field 
officer  in  the  brigade  was  disabled  and  had  to  leave  the  field,  and 
only  two  lieutenants  were  left  in  the  battery/ 

"General  Curtis  in  his  official  report  says:  'The  Fourth  Iowa 
Regiment  won  immortal  honors/  " 

I  think  you  who  were  at  Pea  Ridge  know  on  your  left 
was  the  Thirty-fifth  Illinois,  and  that  the  Indians  attacked  that 
left.     I  knew  something  about  Indians  and  when  the  Lieutenant- 

— 14 — 


Colonel  called  by  attention  to  them  I  told  him  to  turn  a  gun  on 
them.  I  knew  one  fired  at  them  would  dispose  of  them.  After 
that  we  never  had  any  trouble  from  the  Indians,  although  they 
scalped,  I  believe,  one  of  the  Thirty-fifth. 

I  remember  a  boy  badly  wounded.  As  he  come  off  the  field  he 
wanted  me  to  get  off  my  horse.  Then  he  says,  "Colonel,  don't  give 
up;  you  stick  to  them;  you  will  whip  them  yet."  What  that  boy 
said  to  me  gave  me  a  great  deal  of  courage,  and  I  have  never  been 
in  a  battle  yet  in  a  tight  place  but  I  thought  of  what  he  said — 
"Stick  to  them" — and  I  have  followed  his  advice. 

Colonel  Carr  sent  an  order  to  me  during  the  first  part  of  the 
battle  by  Lieutenant  Shields,  Company  A,  I  think.  He  had  been 
detailed  on  Carres  staff,  and  he  came  to  me,  and  as  he  handed  me 
this  order  he  rode  up  alongside  of  me  and  both  of  our  horses  stood 
almost  level,  and  as  he  handed  me  the  order  both  horses  fell  dead. 
It  is  very  seldom  you  see  a  horse  fall  in  battle  that  he  doesn't  rear.  I 
was  quick — you  boys  all  know  that — and  I  jumped  free  of  my  horse, 
but  Shields'  horse  fell  on  him.  I  did  not  notice  Shields.  I  was 
looking  out  for  myself,  and  I  walked  away,  when  Shields  said, 
"Colonel,  you  are  not  going  to  leave  me  in  this  fix,  are  you  ?"  I  went 
back  and  got  Shields  out.  I  never  saw  those  horses  myself  after 
that,  but  Colonel  Williamson,  who  examined  them,  said  that  in  all 
probability  one  bullet  killed  both  of  those  horses.  It  cut  right 
through  the  necks,  so  that  the  horses  went  right  down. 

My  own  admiration  for  your  fighting  and  action  in  this  battle 
is  in  the  War  Eecords.  I  was  the  only  field  officer  in  my  Brigade 
who  remained  on  the  field ;  all  others  were  killed  or  wounded. 

I  think  all  of  you  have  had  my  booklet  which  has  in  it  my  full 
account  of  the  Pea  Eidge  campaign.  If  there  are  any  who  have 
not  received  this  booklet,  by  giving  me  your  address,  you  will  receive 
a  copy  of  the  same. 

This  was  a  remarkable  campaign.  The  battle  was  so  decisive, 
following  the  Battle  of  Wilson's  Creek,  in  both  of  which  the  enemy 
far  outnumbered  our  forces,  that  it  virtually  relieved  Northern 
Arkansas  and  Missouri  from  any  permanent  occupation  by  Con- 
federate forces.  The  campaign  was  ably  handled  by  General  Samuel 
E.  Curtis,  and  his  victory  was  a  complete  one.  I  have  never  thought 
General  Curtis  received  the  proper  credit  for  it.  People  seem  dis- 
posed to  divide  the  credit  with  General  Seigle,  who,  in  fact,  had 
very  little  to  do  with  it.  After  the  enemy  fled  towards  White  River 
we  followed  them  and  were  capturing  portions  of  the  enemy  and 

—15— 


their  transportation  when  we  received  orders  from  General  Curtis 
to  return  to  the  battlefield  to  hold  it.  General  Seigle's  whole  com- 
mand had  started  towards  Cassville,  and  Seigle  advised  Curtis  to 
fall  back  as  the  enemy  might  return.  The  battle  was  won  through 
the  fatal  mistake  of  the  enemy  dividing  its  army,  sending  Price  to 
our  rear,  while  General  Van  Dorn  fought  us  on  our  west  flank. 
Their  forces,  divided  by  the  great  Pea  Ridge,  were  not  within  sup- 
porting distance,  and  when  McCulloch  and  Mcintosh  fell  in 
General  Jeff  C.  Davis's  fight,  the  Arkansas  and  regular  confederate 
troops  fled  south,  leaving  only  Price's  command  for  us  to  fight  on 
the  third  and  last  day. 

I  was  severely  wounded  at  the  Battle  of  Pea  Ridge  and  left  you 
and  saw  you  only  occasionally  during  the  war.  It  is  a  singular  fact 
that  the  records  carry  the  most  meager  report  of  all  your  marches 
and  battles,  more  so  than  of  any  regiment  in  the  War.  The 
officers  did  not  seem  to  have  given  it  the  attention  they  should  have 
in  their  reports. 

Three  or  four  years  ago,  when  the  Iowa  Legislature  ordered 
printed  a  roster  of  the  Iowa  soldiers  in  the  Civil  War,  Colonel 
George  W.  Crossley,  who  had  charge  of  it,  appealed  to  me  for  a 
history  of  the  Fourth  Iowa.  I  could  only  give  him  that  part  which 
I  had  personal  knowledge  of,  and  he  compiled  the  report  as  shown 
in  those  records.  He  sent  it  to  me  for  correction,  and  I  instructed 
him  to  send  it  to  Colonel  S.  N.  Nichols,  but  for  some  reason  your 
colonel  did  not  pay  any  attention  to  it.  During  all  your  campaigns 
I  received  letters  from  Colonel  Williamson  and  other  officers  telling 
of  your  marches  and  battles,  and  I  have  gathered  from  them  a  short 
account  of  you  from  Pea  Ridge  to  your  muster  out,  which  I  will 
read: 

After  the  battle  of  Pea  Ridge,  the  regiment  remained  in  camp 
for  several  weeks.  Colonel  G.  M.  Dodge  was  promoted  to  Brigadier- 
General  for  services  in  the  Battle  of  Pea  Ridge.  Adjutant  James 
A.  Williamson  was  made  Colonel  and  Captain  Burton  succeeded 
Lieutenant- Colonel  Galligan  as  Lieutenant-Colonel. 

The  regiment  moved  slowly  during  the  summer  to  Helana, 
Arkansas,  where  it  spent  a  greater  part  of  the  summer  and  autumn 
of  1862.  It  subsequently  joined  General  Sherman's  army  in  a 
movement  down  the  Mississippi  River  against  Vicksburg,  in  which 
it  bore  a  most  conspicuous  part.  On  December  28th  and  29th  it 
was  in  the  Battle  of  Chickasaw  Bayou.  In  this  battle  it  made  the 
memorable   charge   on   the   enemy's   entrenchments   at   Chickasaw 

—16— 


Bayou,  and  though  for  want  of  adequate  support  it  was  repulsed, 
it  accomplished  deeds  of  bravery  which  enlisted  the  admiration  of 
the  entire  army.  In  less  than  fifteen  minutes  Colonel  Williamson 
and  111  soldiers  were  numbered  among  the  killed  and  wounded. 
General  Thayer,  who  commanded  the  brigade  in  this  celebrated 
charge,  in  his  official  report  of  the  Battle  of  Chickasaw  Bayou, 
says  of  the  conduct  of  the  Fourth  Iowa  Infantry,  both  officers  and 
men,  throughout  this  terrible  ordeal,  that  "it  is  worthy  of  the 
highest  praise.  As  they  pressed  steadily  and  bravely  forward  there 
was  no  flinching;  they  entered  the  enemy's  works  in  splendid  style, 
and  Colonel  Williamson,  moving  at  the  head  of  his  column,  by  his 
coolness  and  courage,  won  my  unqualified  admiration.  He  was 
struck  by  three  balls,  but  was  not  severely  wounded,  and  remained 
on  the  field  the  balance  of  the  day/'  For  its  bravery  at  this  battle, 
General  Grant,  in  general  orders,  authorized  it  to  insert  on  its 
banner,  "First  at  Chickasaw  Bayou."  Comrade  John  C.  Jamison, 
in  a  letter,  gave  this  description  of  the  fight : 

"The  Fourth  Iowa  was  ordered  to  take  its  place  in  line  of  battle 
in  Sherman's  charge  in  front  of  Vicksburg  on  the  29th  day  of 
December,  1862.  We  had  advanced  to  the  point  when  we  were 
quietly  awaiting  the  order  to  charge  that  long  and  impregnable 
line  of  defense  from  which  came  pouring  into  our  ranks  a  constant 
and  deadly  fire  of  100  beseiging  guns,  and  it  was  in  this  trying 
hour  that  the  lion-hearted  Williamson  came  riding  down  the  line  in 
great  haste,  through  this  storm  of  shot  and  shell,  and  called  me  out 
of  the  ranks  and  ordered  me  to  throw  away  my  musket  and  knap- 
sack and  hunt  up  a  horse  and  act  as  Adjutant,  as  the  office  appeared 
vacant,  that  officer  having  gone  to  the  rear  at  this  critical  hour.  I 
found  a  horse  running  loose  in  the  First  Iowa  Battery,  but  a  saddle 
and  bridle  could  not  be  found,  but  a  good  strong  hitching  strap 
answered  the  purpose  of  both,  and  I  was  soon  at  Colonel  William- 
son's side.  Bravely  and  well  the  noble  little  steed  carried  me 
safely  through  the  fight.  In  that  dreadful  suspense,  awaiting  the 
order  to  charge,  when  my  heart  almost  failed  me  for  want  of  courage 
to  meet  such  a  hopeless  task,  my  horse  pawed  up  the  ground  and 
was  eager  for  the  fight,  and  this  gave  his  rider  courage  to  meet  the 
foe,  and,  casting  my  eves  down  the  line  of  that  sturdy  regiment  of 
ours,  as  it  moved  forward  with  a  firm  step, and  a  steady  purpose, 
following  the  flag  of  our  Union  into  the  very  jaws  of  death  and 
the  gates  of  hell,  like  at  Balaclava,  ii  was  theirs  to  do  or  die.  You 
know  the  dreadful  repulse  we  met  at  the  cannon  mouth  and   the 

—17  — 


nature  of  the  conflict,  but  we  fell  back  in  good  order,  but  not  all  of 
us.  My  records  show  a  loss  of  112  men  in  twenty  minutes  for  the 
Fourth  Iowa.     I  got  out  without  a  scratch. 

"Lieutenant  Miller  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Chickasaw  Bayou 
under  a  shower  of  shot  and  shell.  We  attempted  to  rescue  Lieu- 
tenant Miller,  who  had  fallen  on  the  hillside  within  the  rebel  line. 
We  could  hear  his  cries  for  help,  but  all  our  efforts  to  rescue  him 
proved  unavailing.  Late  in  the  evening,  as  we  gathered  around 
the  campfire,  we  decided  that  he  could  not  be  saved.  Our  hearts 
sank  in  sadness  at  the  thought  of  losing  our  brave  and  heroic 
Comrade.  At  this  moment  there  stepped  to  the  front  a  great,  stal- 
wart, muscular  negro,  who  had  escaped  from  slavery,  and  had  been 
hired  as  Lieutenant  Miller's  cook  a  few  weeks  previous.  He  asked 
if  that  was  our  final  decision.  Receiving  an  affirmative  reply,  he 
immediately  threw  aside  his  hat  and  coat  and  rushed  into  the  very 
jaws  of  death  and  carried  out  on  his  back,  single-handed  and  alone, 
that  dying  soldier  to  a  place  of  safety.  That  brave  act  on  the  part 
of  that  devoted  negro  has  always  had  a  claim  for  my  respect  and 
demanded  that  something  be  done  for  his  race.  During  three 
years'  service  in  the  front  in  Missouri,  Arkansas,  Mississippi  and 
Louisiana,  I  have  never  seen  a  disloyal  man  with  a  black  skin/' 

After  Chickasaw  Bayou  the  regiment  returned  with  General 
Sherman's  command  to  Arkansas  Post,'  where  it  took  part  in  that 
battle  at  which  time  several  thousand  rebel  soldiers  surrendered 
unconditionally  to  the  Union  Army. 

Comrade  Jamison  describes  this  in  a  letter  thus : 

"Our  regiment  landed  the  9th  day  of  January,  1863,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Arkansas  river,  below  the  rebel  fort,  out  of  range  of 
their  guns,  and  began  a  march  late  in  the  evening  through  swamps 
and  brush ;  the  weather  was  cold  and  chilly  and  the  entire  night  was 
occupied  in  surrounding  the  fort;  when  daylight  appeared  we  had 
completely  encircled  their  defenses,  and  without  preparing  a  bite  to 
eat,  we  were  ordered  at  sunup  to  advance  on  their  works.  We  soon 
found  their  position  strongly  defended  in  our  front  by  two  batteries 
of  10-pound  parrot  guns,  and  strong  entrenchments  from  which  a 
vigorous  fire  was  poured  in  upon  us  all  day;  but,  fortunately,  we 
were  in  a  thickly  wooded  section  and  suffered  but  slight  loss,  as  by 
our  method  of  fighting  every  man  was  expected  to  cover  where  an 
opportunity  offered.  By  4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  10th  of 
January  we  had  advanced  so  close  to  their  works  that  our  sharp- 
shooters finally  silenced  their  guns  by  picking  off  every  man  who 

—18 — 


attempted  to  load  or  operate  them.  So  when  the  order  came  to 
charge,  20,000  men  in  a  solid  line  came  on  with  a  yell,  and  the 
brave  defenders  of  a  bad  cause  ran  up  the  white  flag  and  sur- 
rendered their  little  army  of  5,000. 

"We  had  lost  all  our  baggage  and  most  of  our  camp  equipage  in 
the  repulse  at  Vicksburg,  two  weeks  before,  so  I  had  not  had  a 
change  of  clothing  for  nearly  a  month,  and  I  was  literally  covered 
with  vermin.  Seeing  a  camp  kettle  filled  with  boiling  water,  1 
took  off  my  wool  shirt  and  boiled  the  life  out  of  every  greyback, 
and  then  hung  it  up  on  a  stick  at  the  fire  to  dry  and  went  in  search 
of  something  to  eat.  When  I  came  back  nothing  could  be  seen  of 
the  shirt  except  about  six  inches  of  the  sleeve.  It  had  fallen  into 
the  fire  and  was  entirely  consumed.  Finding  myself  cold  and 
shivering  without  a  shirt,  I  started  through  the  regiment  on  a  hunt 
for  one,  but  every  Comrade  reported  only  one  on  hand  and  that  on 
their  backs.  Finally  I  heard  of  a  man  in  one  of  the  companies  who 
had  just  returned  from  a  furlough,  and  had  the  only  knapsack  in 
the  regiment.  Fortunately  he  had  an  extra  shirt  and  very  cheer- 
fully handed  it  to  me  when  I  told  him  of  my  misfortunes. 

"On  our  return  to  the  boats  the  rain  and  sleet  continued  to  pour 
down  upon  our  unprotected  heads  as  we  trudged  upon  our  way. 
The  march  continued  until  10  o'clock  that  night,  when  we  came  to 
the  landing,  but  our  boat  had  not  arrived,  so  we  were  ordered  to 
bivouac  for  the  night.  Tired  and  hungry,  we  wrapped  ourselves  in 
our  blankets  and  laid  down  to  rest,  but  we  were  all  so  wet  and  cold 
we  could  not  sleep — marching  all  the  night  before,  through  swamps 
and  in  battle  all  day,  with  nothing  to  eat  but  hard  bread  and  a 
chance  cup  of  coffee,  and  at  last  to  lay  clown  in  our  wet  clothing 
after  a  long,  fatiguing  march,  that  night  seemed  more  than  the 
human  body  could  endure. 

"About  midnight  the  rain  changed  to  snow,  and,  strange  to 
say,  we  soon  fell  asleep.  The  coming  of  snow  seemed  to  shut  ovit 
all  the  wind  and  cold.  When  that  army  rose  in  the  morning  that 
broad  plantation  was  dotted  over,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see,  witli 
spots  of  bare  ground  where  the  soldier  had  laid  under  his  covering 
of  snow,  like  so  many  cattle  that  had  laid  out  at  night  in  a  snow- 
storm. That  morning  the  fence  rails  served  a  good  purpose — and 
the  fire  built  of  them  warmed  that  army  into  life.  Soon  the  boats 
appeared  and  our  regiment  was  ordered  to  take  the  deck  of  the 
John  J.  Roe.  We  soon  steamed  down  the  river — but  the  decks 
of  the  boat  were  covered  with  ice,  which  we  could  not  remove,  and 

—19— 


the  motion  of  the  boat  added  to  our  discomfort  by  increasing  the 
force  of  the  cold  winter  winds  from  which  we  had  no  protection. 
That  night  we  reached  the  Mississippi,  and  it  grew  colder.  Some 
wood  was  obtained  which  we  burnt  in  small  pieces  in  our  camp 
kettles  on  deck  of  the  boat  to  warm  our  hands  and  make  coffee.  An 
officer  of  the  boat  became  alarmed  for  the  safety  of  his  craft,  rushed 
up  and  began  emptying  the  contents  of  the  camp  kettles  overboard. 
We  in  turn  seized  him,  and  had  he  not  desisted  would  soon  have 
found  himself  in  the  muddy  waters  of  the  Mississippi.  That  night 
we  laid  down  to  rest  and  the  heat  of  our  bodies  drove  the  frost  from 
that  icy  deck  in  spots  where  every  man  had  laid,  but  when  wt 
reached  Young's  Point,  opposite  Yicksburg,  of  our  500  men  400 
were  reported  on  the  sick  list." 

Comrade  Jamison  gives  the  movements  of  the  regiment  until 
its  final  move  to  the  rear  of  Vicksburg,  as  follows : 

"On  the  1st  of  February,  1863,  General  Grant,  commanding  the 
army  in  front  of  Vicksburg,  made  his  appearance  among  us  and 
gave  us  confidence.  The  high  water  had  broken  the  levee  on  the 
Mississippi  side  and  overflowed  the  country  for  many  miles  and 
gave  our  boats  an  opportunity  to  go  out  for  many  miles  inland. 
Gunboats  accompanied  our  transports  far  into  the  interior,  navigat- 
ing Steel  Bayou,  Black  Bayou,  Deer  Creek  and  the  Big  Sunflower. 
These  expeditions  were  sent  out  in  the  hope  of  reaching  the  Yazoo 
river  above  that  impregnable  position,  Haynes'  Bluff,  so  that  Vicks- 
burg could  be  attacked  in  the  rear,  but  every  effort  in  that  direction 
failed.  No  other  man  except  Grant  would  have  undertaken  a 
movement  of  so  much  peril.  In  many  places  trees  had  to  be  cut 
off  under  water  to  make  a  channel  through  dense  forests  and  many 
of  our  boats  came  back  minus  their  smokestacks  and  otherwise 
damaged.  Heavy  details  were  then  made  to  work  on  the  canal 
across  the  Peninsula  opposite  Vicksburg.  The  river  front  at  Vicks- 
burg was  fortified  for  ten  miles  with  guns  of  large  caliber,  and  it 
was  believed  that  by  cutting  this  canal  through  the  channel  of  the 
river  would  be  diverted  and  our  fleet  could  pass  through  it  and 
avoid  the  rebel  forts.  The  work  went  on  all  through  February  and 
March,  but  the  rebels,  discovering  us  at  work,  planted  a  large  gun 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  from  the  lower  end  of  the  canal 
and  soon  obtained  complete  range.  I  happened  to  be  standing 
near  by  watching  the  progress  of  the  work  on  the  canal  the  morning 
they  opened  fire,  and  the  way  those  big  shells  came  crashing  through 

—2  0— 


the  treetops  over  my  head  caused  me  to  make  a  hasty  retreat  to  a 
point  of  safety. 

"Our  regiment  was  surprised  one  night  when  we  were  all  asleep. 
The  levee  had  broken  and  the  floods  came  in  upon  us,  and  we  had 
to  wade  out  through  the  cold,  muddy  waters  for  half  a  mile  to 
higher  ground  on  the  levees  and  stay  there  until  daylight  came  to 
show  us  dry  ground  on  which  to  pitch  our  tents.  A  slight  raise  in 
the  ground  near  the  steamboat  landing  offered  a  place  for  our  camp, 
but  the  place  turned  out  objectionable,  as  the  hospital  boat  came 
there  every  morning  and  unloaded  the  dead  to  be  buried  in  the 
levees.  Sometimes  the  rough  boxes  containing  bodies  of  our  unfor- 
tunate comrades  would  be  piled  up  eight  feet  high  awaiting  burial. 
The  interment  was  made  by  a  detail  every  day.  Side  by  side  they 
were  buried  in  the  levees. 

"One  of  the  worst  afflictions  we  suffered  at  that  time  was  scurvy, 
a  disease  that  comes  from  a  lack  of  vegetable  food.  Many  poor 
fellows  lost  their  fingers  and  toes  from  this  terrible  disease.  Hard 
bread,  coffee  and  bacon  was  our  daily  food.  We  were  so'  far  away 
from  our  base  of  supplies  that  nothing  but  the  substantiate  could 
reach  us,  until  at  last  some  noble-hearted  man  hearing  how  we  were 
suffering  from  scurvy  purchased  with  his  own  means  in  the  Chicago 
market  a  whole  trainload  of  potatoes,  onions  and  cabbage  and  for- 
warded them  to  us.  I  shall  never  forget  the  relief  and  enjoyment 
that  brought  to  us. 

"In  passing  through  all  these  trials  and  privations  of  camp  life, 
it  was  a  noticeable  fact  that  there  was  very  little  complaining.  To 
illustrate  the  magnificent  temper  of  the  American  soldier,  I  will 
give  an  instance  to  show  how  quickly  they  will  turn  a  discomfort 
into  a  joke.  One  night,  the  29th  of  March,  1863,  our  regiment 
was  wrapped  in  slumber  when  a  terrible  hurricane  struck  our  camp 
and  hurled  our  tents  into  the  air  and  poured  in  upon  our  unpro- 
tected heads  a  shower  of  cold  rain.  Some  witty  fellow  started  up  a 
loud  lamentation  how  he  had  left  a  good  home,  etc.,  etc.,  and  this 
started  the  fun,  turning  our  distresses  into  hilarity  and  good  feeling 
— in  the  midst  of  the  confusion.  The  Sergeant-Major  of  the  regi- 
ment stepped  up  to  me  and  remarked,  'That  scene  is  wonderful. 
The  American  soldier  is  the  only  soldier  in  the  world  who  will  laugh 
at  his  own  calamity/ 

"On  the  2nd  day  of  April  General  Steel's  division,  of  which 
the  Fourth  Iowa  Infantry  was  a  part,  embarked  on  the  Fanny 
Ogden  and  took  our  course  up  the  river,  arriving  at  Greenville, 

— 21— 


Mississippi,  on  the  5th  inst,  where  we  disembarked  and  made  a  raid 
out  into  the  country.  At  this  point  the  rebel  cavalry  came  in  fre- 
quently and  fired  at  our  boats,  and  the  information  had  come  to 
General  Grant  that  large  quantities  of  corn  and  provisions  were 
being  drawn  from  this  locality  to  Vicksburg  to  support  the  rebel 
army.  On  the  night  of  the  5th  we  camped  eighteen  miles  from 
Greenville  on  Deer  Creek,  in  a  canebreak.  Next  day  we  followed 
the  banks  of  Deer  Creek  all  day  long — both  shores  were  lined  with 
stately  trees,  the  branches  bending  to  the  water.  The  stream  was 
deep  and  sluggish.  The  bright  rays  of  a  southern  sun  were  bringing 
to  life  the  green  leaves.  Birds  of  rich  plumage  sang  their  spring 
songs,  and  the  fields  were  beginning  to  bear  their  coat  of  green  and 
the  broad  fields  in  each  passing  plantation  were  being  tilled  and 
worked  by  the  slaves  of  the  master.  As  we  followed  the  winding 
road  so  broad  and  beautfiul  and  level  all  day  long,  I  looked  with 
envy  on  the  many  comfortable  homes,  and  then  as  I  cast  my  eyes 
to  the  other  bank  of  Deer  Creek  and  saw  the  vast  multitude  of 
negroes  who  had  escaped  from  their  masters  and  were  trying  to  get 
to  us,  I  thought  of  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  and  her  ' Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin/  " 

The  movement  of  the  regiment  is  now  given  in  Comrade 
Jamison's  diary  as  follows : 

"May  1st.  Marched  from  Milliken's  Bend,  direction  of  Grand 
Gulf.     Boats  run  the  batteries  last  night. 

"May  2nd.  Large  bodies  of  troops  moving.  Grant's  army 
reported  to  be  50,000  strong;  great  activity  and  excitement. 

"May  3rd.  Marching  all  day  through  swamps  and  over  cordu- 
roy bridges. 

"May  9th  and  10th.  Marched  and  countermarched;  saw  thou- 
sands and  thousands  of  our  troops;  the  road  strewn  with  broken 
wagons,  muskets  and  knapsacks  of  the  retiring  foe.  Dead  horses, 
cattle  and  hogs  thrown  into  all  the  creeks,  wells  and  springs  to 
destroy  the  water.  Very  warm  and  dusty  and  suffered  terribly  for 
water;  on  one-quarter  rations. 

"May  11th.  Our  arm^  received  news  of  the  capture  of  Freder- 
icksburg with  12,000  prisoners  by  Hooker. 

"May  12th.  Heavy  cannonading  in  front.  Some  men  of  New 
York  regiment  came  in  with  their  ears  cut  off  by  the  rebels  while 
foraging. 

"May  13th.  Marched  at  sunup.  No  breakfast.  Made  a  raid 
on  a  fine  mansion,  found  Sherman  in  the  house  when  I  entered. 

—22— 


Ordered  to  the  support  of  McPherson  at  Battle  of  Raymond. 
Enemy  5,000,  but  were  quickly  routed  and  driven  in  direction  of 
Jackson.     Fourth  Iowa  man  found  a  brother  on  the  field  wounded. 

"May  14th.  Heavy  rains.  Hungry  and  tired,  we  swooped  down 
20,000  strong  on  Jackson,  drove  out  Johnston's  army  of  12,000. 
Grant  rode  at  the  head  of  the  Fourth  Iowa  as  we  entered  the  city. 

"May  15th  and  16th.  Pillaged  and  destroyed  the  city  and  rail- 
road and  rebel  stores.  Marched  at  noon  of  last  day  on  hearing 
the  cannons  roar  at  Champion's  Hill,  twenty  miles  away ;  reached 
the  field  at  midnight,  after  Grant  had  overwhelmed  and  defeated 
Pemberton's  army  of  25,000,  taking  2,000  prisoners  and  twenty 
pieces  of  artillery.     Our  loss  about  2,500. 

"May  17th.  Marched  at  sunup  to  Black  River.  Crossed  over 
on  pontoons.  Enemy  driven  from  their  works  at  Black  Bayou 
Ridge  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  leaving  eleven  pieces  of  artillery 
and  3,000  prisoners  in  our  hands. 

"May  18th.  Marched  at  sunup,  our  regiment  in  advance,  and 
our  whole  army  enveloping  Vicksburg,  Sherman's  Corps  occupying 
the  right  flank.  We  drove  the  enemy  into  their  works;  they  made 
a  stubborn  resistance;  in  the  evening  our  hearts  were  gladdened  by 
a  sight  of  the  Mississippi  River  north  of  Vicksburg.  We  planted 
the  battery  that  broke  their  line  extending  from  Vicksburg  to 
Haynes'  Bluff.  Darkness  settled  over  us;  we  laid  on  our  arms 
that  night. 

"May  19th.  Advanced  at  sunup  to  find  the  enemy  had  fallen 
back  inside  their  works  at  Vicksburg,  leaving  open  our  communica- 
tions with  the  Yazoo  River  on  the  north.  Fighting  all  the  day; 
the  Fourth  and  Twenty-sixth  Iowa  were  drawn  on  to  a  masked 
battery  and  driven  back  with  a  severe  loss. 

"May  20th.  The  fleet  opened  fire  from  the  front  and  hard 
fighting  all  day  and  nothing  gained. 

"May  21st.  Fighting  all  day ;  heavy  losses  on  both  sides. 
Received  supplies  from  the  Yazoo  River,  first  in  twenty-one  days. 
Sent  6,000  prisoners  north. 

"May  22nd.  Charged  the  enemy  all  along  the  line,  but  we  were 
repulsed  with  a  loss  of  5,000  men. 

"June  23rd.  The  enemy  tried  to  break  out  last  night  about  9 
o'clock  on  the  left  and  were  driven  back  with  a  loss  of  500  men. 
Joe  Johnston  reported  on  this  side  of  Black  River  with  40,000  men 
to  raise  the  siege  and  relieve  Vicksburg;  20,000* troops  have  boon 
sent  out  to  meet  and  drive  him  back. 

—23— 


"June  24th.  The  enemy  appear  uneasy  and  as  if  fixing  some 
way  to  get  out  of  their  precarious  situation.  Quite  a  severe  fire 
kept  up  on  them  all  day ;  they  return  our  fire  rapidly  on  the  river 
bank  to  keep  us  from  fortifying  at  that  place. 

"June  25th.  One  of  the  enemy's  forts  was  blown  up  by  our 
troops  in  McPherson's  Corps,  who  undermined  it  and  put  six  barrels 
of  powder  under,  which  was  ignited,  tearing  the  fort  to  pieces,  after 
which  we  opened  a  terrific  fire  from  our  artillery,  which  was  followed 
by  a  charge  of  the  infantry  on  the  works,  but  were  unsuccessful, 
there  being  a  desperate  fight  on  the  left ;  results  unknown. 

"June  26th.  Heavy  fighting  continued  on  the  center  of  the 
demolished  fort.  Our  forces  fight  by  reliefs,  two  regiments  on  two 
hours  and  off  about  six.  The  rebels  hold  one  side  of  the  fort  and 
the  federals  the  other;  the  fighting  desperate,  yet  the  loss  on  our 
side  is  quite  light. 

"June  27th.  The  enemy  were  driven  away  from  their  demolished 
fort  about  9  o'clock  last  night;  our  troops  occupied  it,  if  reports 
are  true.  Our  gunboats  engage  the  batteries  in  front.  In  the 
evening  the  firing  was  very  heavy  for  three  hours. 

"June  28th.  Very  little  firing  today;  the  Sabbath  appears  to 
be  strictly  observed.  Our  chaplain  preached  at  3  :30  o'clock  under 
the  shade  trees. 

"June  29th.  The  rebels  opened  a  heavy  artillery  fire  on  our 
rifle  pits  held  by  the  Ninth  Iowa,  killing  one  and  wounding  another 
man  of  that  regiment  at  a  point  only  twenty  feet  from  the  rebel 
stockades  near  their  works  at  the  top  of  the  hill,  but  a  shell  or  two 
from  our  batteries  soon  silenced  the  enemy's  guns. 

"June  30th.  The  rebels  came  out  with  a  flag  of  truce  today 
for  the  object  of  passing  out  a  British  subject,  a  woman,  but  Grant 
refused  to  pass  her  out.  The  rebs  say  they  are  preparing  to  cele- 
brate the  Fourth  of  July  in  Yicksburg.  We  will  fire  a  salute  for 
them. 

"July  1st.  The, enemy's  fire  is  very  weak  today,  except  their 
reply  to'  our  batteries  on  the  point  opposite  Yicksburg. 

"July  2nd.  The  enemy  tried  to  drive  our  forces  back  in  Logan's 
Division;  were  severely  repulsed. 

"July  3d.  A  flag  of  truce  came  out  of  Yicksburg  today.  Yery 
little  firing  along  the  line  except  at  the  water  batteries,  which  kept 
up  a  vigorous  fire  upon  our  mortars  all  day. 

"July  4th.  All  firing  ordered  to  be  stopped  last  night;  the 
enemy  propose  terms  of  surrender.     The  enemy  fired  a  salute  of 

—24— 


thirteen  guns  at  sunrise;  we  responded  with  thirty-four  guns;  both 
fired  blank  cartridges.  Pemberton  surrendered  at  10  :30  o'clock. 
We  took  32,000  prisoners,  150  pieces  of  artillery.  This  was  a 
Glorious  Fourth  to  Grant's  Army. 

"After  Vicksburg  the  regiment  marched  with  Sherman  to  Jack- 
son, Mississippi,  and  took  part  in  capturing  that  city,  forcing  the 
retreat  of  the  enemy  on  July  16,  1863.  After  the  fall  of  Jackson 
the  regiment  retraced  its  steps,  went  into  camp  on  Black  Eiver, 
fourteen  miles  in  the  rear  of  Vicksburg,  where  it  remained  until 
July  29,  1863." 

On  September  22,  1863,  the  Eegiment  was  transported  with  the 
Fifteenth  Corps  under  General  Sherman  from  Vicksburg  to  Mem- 
phis, and  from  there  marched  across  the  country  by  way  of  Corinth, 
Mississippi,  and  Florence,  Athens  and  Bridgeport  to  Chattanooga, 
and  was  in  Osterhaus'  Division  in  the  celebrated  attack  under  Gen- 
eral Hooker  on  Lookout  Mountain.  The  Fourth  Iowa  showed  great 
gallantry  in  this  attack.  It  was  the  first  to  place  its  banner  on 
the  point  of  Lookout  Mountain,  and  General  Butterfield,  who  was 
General  Hooker's  chief  of  staff,  stated  to  Generals  Dodge  and 
Williamson  that  he  knew  personally  it  was  the  first  regiment  to 
reach  the  top  of  Lookout. 

A  COMEADE :     I  am  the  man  that  did  that. 

GENEEAL  DODGE :  Then  you  will  bear  me  out  in  the  state- 
ment. 

THE  COMEADE  :  Yes,  sir ;  I  was  color  bearer  of  the  regiment 
and  planted  the  colors  on  Lookout. 

General  Butterfield  said  that  when  the  New  York  Monument, 
which  was  to  be  erected  there,  was  erected,  that  it  should  have 
that  statement  upon  it.  General  Butterfield  and  General  William- 
son both  died  before  this  monument  was  erected,  and  I  don't  know 
whether  that  fact  is  stated  on  the  monument  or  not,  but  I  do  know 
from  the  reports  from  the  regiment  and  from  the  reports  of  other 
officers,  that  it  was  Williamson's  Brigade  of  Osterhaus'  Division  of 
the  Fifteenth  Army  Corps  which  was  the  first  to  reach  and  take 
the  point  of  Lookout  Mountain.  From  Lookout  Mountain  it 
marched  to  Eossville  and  took  part  in  the  attack  on  Bragg's  left. 
From  there  it  followed  the  rebel  retreat  to  Einggold  and  in  attack- 
ing Bragg's  rear  guard  was  forced  into  the  gorge  and  loel  \<t\ 
heavily.  The  officers  considered  that  the  loss  of  life  there  was 
unnecessary.  General  Grant  says  it  could  have  been  avoided,  as 
the  enemy  was  on  the  retreat  and  a  simple  flank  movement  would 

—25— 


have  driven  them  out.  They  went  with  General  Sherman  to  the 
relief  of  Knoxville  in  East  Tennessee. 

On  February  2nd,  1864,  the  regiment  veteranized  and  returned 
to  Des  Moines,  Iowa.  General  Grant  issued  an  order  authorizing 
the  regiment  to  inscribe  on  its  colors  and  guidons  the  following- 
battles  : 

Pea  Ridge, 

First  at  Chickasaw  Bayou, 

Arkansas  Post, 

Yicksburg, 

Siege  and  Assault  of  the  19th  and  22nd, 

Jackson, 

Chattanooga. 

About  three  hundred  members  of  the  regiment  had  re-enlisted 
in  the  Veteran  Corps.  The  regiment  spent  a  month  at  their  homes 
and  were  received  by  the  State  authorities  and  everyone  with  great 
attention  and  consideration  and  universally  commended  for  their 
bravery  and  service.  They  returned  to  the  Army  again  the  1st  of 
April  and  were  stationed  near  Bridgeport,  Alabama,  and  were  a 
part  of  Osterhaus'  Division  of  the  Fifteenth  Army  Corps.  The 
brigade  was  commanded  by  Colonel  James  A.  Williamson,  the  regi- 
ment by  Lieutenant-Colonel  William  D.  Xichols. 

On  May  5th,  1863,  with  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  they 
marched  through  Ship  and  Snake  Creek  Gap  to  the  rear  of  John- 
ston's Army,  flanking  it  out  of  Dalton,  fighting  at  Battle  of  Resaca, 
and  in  this  campaign  they  took  part  in  all  the  battles.  At  Kenesaw 
Mountain  Sergeant  Richard  Chenowith,  with  sixty-five  men  of  the 
regiment  protecting  General  McCook's  left  flank  in  the  charge,  did 
wonderfully  effective  work,  as  he  caught  the  enemy  in  flank  and 
finally  occupied  the  works  McCook  had  to  abandon.  At  Dallas 
Captain  A.  R.  Anderson,  with  200  men,  held  the  head  of  a  ravine 
against  great  odds  and  punished  the  enemy  fearfully,  showing  that 
detachments  of  the  regiment  under  subordinate  officers  never  failed 
to  do  their  duty,  no  matter  how  critical  the  situation. 

At  the  great  Battle  of  Atlanta,  on  the  22nd  day  of  July,  it  was 
General  Wood's  Division  of  the  Fifteenth  Army  Corps  which  held 
the  extreme  right  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  and  when  General 
John  C.  Brown's  Division  of  Chetham's  Rebel  Corps  broke  through 
the  line  of  the  Fifteenth  Army  Corps  on  the  Atlanta  and  Augusta 
Railroad  and  captured  De  Gress'  Battery,  Williamson's  Brigade  of 
Wood's   Division,   under   the   direction   of   General   Sherman,   was 

— 2  6— 


moved  in  on  the  enemy's  flank  to  retake  this  line  and  battery  at  the 
same  time  that  Mersey's  Brigade  of  the  Sixteenth  Army  Corps, 
which  General  Logan  had  brought  from  that  corps  for  the  purpose 
of  retaking  the  line,  made  the  charge  in  front.  At  the  same  time 
General  Williamson's  Brigade  charged  on  the  flank  and  the  two 
brigades  retook  the  line  of  the  Fifteenth  Army  Corps  and  recap- 
tured De  Gress'  Battery  and  turned  it  again  upon  the  enemy. 

After  the  Battle  of  Atlanta  the  Fourth  Iowa,  with  the  Army  of 
the  Tennessee,  on  the  27th  day  of  July,  moved  to  the  extreme  right 
and  took  part  in  the  noted  battle  near  Ezra  Church  and  fought  on 
the  28th  day  of  July,  where  the  rebel  forces  were  completely  defeated 
and  driven  back  with  great  loss.  The  Fourth  Iowa  swung  with 
the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  around  the  right  of  Atlanta  to  its  rear, 
taking  part  in  the  fight  at  Jonesborough  and  forcing  Hood  to  give 
up  that  stronghold,  then  returned  to  camp  at  Atlanta. 

Up  to  this  time  the  regiment  had  lost  51  killed,  328  wounded, 
54  from  death  by  wounds,  200  from  disease,  but  they  had  lost 
hardly  any  prisoners. 

They  took  part  in  the  chase  of  Hood  when  he  made  his  move- 
ment to  the  rear  of  Atlanta,  going  into  Tennessee. 

In  October,  1864,  the  regiment  received  from  the  State  of  Iowa 
something  over  four  hundred  recruits,  who  were  with  them  from 
now  on  until  the  end  of  the  war. 

From  Atlanta  the  regiment  took  part  in  the  remarkable  march 
through  Georgia  to  Savannah,  and  in  the  capture  of  that  place. 
From  there  they  moved  with  General  Sherman's  army,  taking  part 
in  the  battles  of  Columbia,  South  Carolina,  and  Bentonville,  North 
Carolina,  and  after  the  surrender  of  General  Joe  Johnson's  army 
they  continued  on  the  march  to  Richmond  and  thence  to  Washing- 
ton, where  they  took  part  in  the  grand  review.  After  remaining 
in  camp  some  time  near  Washington,  -they  proceeded  to  Louisville, 
Kentucky,  where  they  were  mustered  out  of  service  on  July  24, 
1865,  having  served  four  }'ears. 

This  regiment  was  in  active  service  from  the  time  it  entered 
the  war  until  it  was  mustered  out.  It  was  never  held  for  any 
length  of  time  in  any  position — it  being  sent  rapidly  from  one 
campaign  to  another. 

Its  total  enlistment  was L,551 

Killed 6] 

Wounded   338 

Died  of  wounds 54 

—27— 


Died  of  disease 239 

Discharged  for  wounds,  disease  and  other  causes.  .  333 

Captured    49 

Buried  in  National  cemeteries 136 

Transferred   37 

When  the  regiment  was  mustered  out,  of  the  original  members 
who  entered  the  Eegiment  there  were  225  left.  When  Company  B  of 
the  Fourth  Iowa  was  mustered  out  it  had  fourteen  of  its  original 
members  left.  The  regiment  furnished  a  Major-General,  a  Briga- 
dier-General, several  Colonels,  Lieutenant-Colonels  and  Majors  for 
other  Iowa  regiments,  and  in  the  State  stands  in  the  first  rank  of 
troops  who  went  out  from  the  State,  and  in  the  Nation  stands  in 
the  front  rank  of  the  fighting  regiments  of  the  Civil  War.  I  doubt 
if  any  regiment  can  show  a  record  of  as  many  battles  as  it  was  in 
and  only  lost  forty-nine  men  captured  or  missing.  This  shows 
how  well  disciplined,  trained  and  commanded  it  was. 

The  regiment  was  commanded  by  Lieutenant-Colonel  William 
D.  Nichols  after  Yicksburg,  who  was  a  very  efficient  officer.  He 
held  a  commission  as  colonel,  but  was  never  mustered  as  the  strength 
of  the  regiment  had  been  so  reduced  that  the  regulations  prevented 
it.  He  died  in  Los  Angeles  during  September,  1911.  Colonel 
James  A.  Williamson  was  in  command  of  the  Brigade  of  which  the 
Eegiment  was  a  part,  and  for  his  distinguished  and  gallant  service 
he  was  promoted  to  rank  of  Brigadier  General  of  U.  S.  V. 

I  have  a  letter  writted  me  by  a  young  man  whose  father  was  in 
the  Forty-seventh  Illinois,  giving  an  incident  of  the  action  of  the 
Second  Iowa  Battery  at  Vicksburg.    I  will  read  it: 

General  G.  M.  Dodge,  President  Society  Army  Tennessee,  Council 

Bluffs,  Iowa. 

Dear  Sir:- — Apropos  of  the  coming  meeting  of  the  Society  of 
the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  and  the  reunion  of  Dodge's  Second  Iowa 
Battery,  it  may  not  be  inadmissable  to  recall  an  incident  in  the 
career  of  that  battery  to  the  memory  of  those  survivors  who  may 
be  present,  and  participated  in  it,  and  possibly  some  of  the  eve- 
witnesses  of  what  is  probably  the  most  remarkable  artillery  coup 
that  has  ever  been  attempted  in  the  history  of  modern  warfare, 
unless  an  exception  may  be  taken  of  some  of  the  feats  performed 
in  the  late  Russo-Japanese  encounter. 

With  your  kind  indulgence  I  will  quote  from  a  short  sketch  by 
my  father  (the  late  Samuel  A.  S.  Law,  Captain  and  Eegimental 
Quartermaster  Forty-seventh  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry)  in  his 
personal  service  and  experiences  in  the  old  "Eagle  Brigade." 

The  incident  occurred  co-relatively  with  an  advance  made  by 

— 28— 


Mower's  Brigade  on  the  earthworks  about  Vicksburg  on  or  about 
the  20th  of  May,  1863,  ordered  by  General  Sherman  at  the  instance 
of  a  communication  received  by  General  Grant  just  outside  of  the 
earthworks,  from  General  McClernand,  who  assumed  the  responsi- 
bility (erroneously  it  afterwards  proved)  of  successfully  assaulting 
the  works,  'provided  a  diversion  could  temporarily  be  created  in 
his  favor/  (General  Grant  remarked  at  the  time  that  he  didn't 
believe  it  could  be  done.) 

%  ^c  H-  #  %  =fc  ♦ 

"Our  route  took  us  from  the  cover  of  the  ridge  at  once  and 
thence  along  a  narrow  road  directly  in  the  face  of  a  six-gun  battery, 
not  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  our  starting  point.  About  a  half  mile 
on  each  side  of  that  battery  the  rebels  had  two  four-gun  batteries, 
and  while  we  got  a  direct  fire  from  the  six  guns  in  our  front,  we 
were  getting  practically  a  cross-fire  from  the  other  eight  guns.  The 
infantry  of  the  enemy  also  did  their  best  to  stop  us.  *  *  *  The 
Eleventh  Missouri  Regiment  was  stopped  by  the  ditch  in  front  of 
the  enemy's  works,  and  it  brought  us  all  to  a  standstill  for  a  few 
seconds.  The  Eleventh  jumped  into  the  ditch  bodily,  leaving  but 
little  room  to  spare,  and  there  under  that  terrible  fire  we  found 
ourselves  without  a  head.  .  The  Lieutenant-Colonel  (Baker)  had 
found  refuge  behind  a  stump  and  left  the  company  officers  to 
manage  as  best  they  could.  In  the  meantime  we  were  the  observed 
of  all  observers,  and  as  soon  as  it  was  seen  that  the  head  of  our 
column  could  not  get  over,  Grant  ordered  the  two  last  regiments 
stopped  (the  Eighth  Wisconsin  and  Fifth  Minnesota).  This  all 
occurred  in  about  two  and  a  half  minutes,  about  4  in  the  after- 
noon. Yet  in  those  short  minutes  the  Fbrty-seventh  Illinois 
Infantry  lost,  in  killed  and  wounded,  167  men,  and  the  Eleventh 
Missouri  fully  as  many ! 

"The  Color  Sergeant  of  the  Eleventh  planted  his  colors  on  the 
earthworks  and  hollowed  out  a  little  niche  to  sit  in,  and  he  was 
followed  by  the  Color  Sergeant  of  the  Forty-seventh  Illinois,  and 
together  the  two  flags  moved  within  bayonet  reach  of  the  enemy 
on  the  inside,  until  about  9  o'clock,  when  the  two  regiments  were 
withdrawn,  under  cover  of  darkness. 

"To  show  the  sympathy  and  cohesion  of  the  Second  Brigade,  T 
may  give  an  instance. 

"As  soon  as  the  order  for  our  advance  was  given  two  Sergeants 
in  charge  of  pieces  of  the  Second  Iowa  Battery,  without  orders, 
called  for  volunteers,  and  every  man  in  the  battery  flocked  to  them. 
Sergeant  Rice,  first  piece,  and  Sergeant  Buttolph,  second  piece, 
took  their  own  gun  crews,  and  they  lifted  their  guns  over  the  breast- 
works and  advanced  with  as,  pushing  their  guns  along  and  tiring  as 
they  advanced.  Buttolph's  was  cut  down,  one  wheel  being  hope- 
lessly smashed,  and  was  dragged  into  a  hollow  mil  of  range.  Rice 
fired  twelve  rounds  of  shell,  and  then  Sherman  sent  a  staff  officer 
to  recall  him.     Of  his  eight  men,  including  himself,  one  was  killed 

—  29  — 


and  six  wounded.  While  loading  for  the  last  shot  a  minie  ball 
cut  on2  all  four  fingers  of  the  right  hand  of  the  man  who  was 
'thumbing  vent/  As  the  men  took  hold  of  the  prolong  rope  to  drag 
the  gun  into  a  hollow  a  shell  burst  over  them,  knocking  them  all 
down  and  wounding  Rice  in  the  head.  The  gun  was  about  to  run 
away  when1  Rice  raised  himself  to  a  sitting  position  and  shouted, 
'G — d  d — n  it,  lock  those  wheels/ 

"Major  Taylor,  chief  of  artillery  on  Sherman's  staff,  had  made 
some  disparaging  remarks  about  the  Second  Iowa  Battery  because 
they  were  not  paper-collar  soldiers,  and  had  made  an  invidious 
comparison  between  them  and  his  old  command,  the  'Board  of  Trade 
Battery'  of  Chicago.  He  afterwards  went  to  the  Second  Iowa  Bat- 
tery and  made  them  a  public  apology,  and  thereafter  the  Board  of 
Trade  boys  always  cheered  them  whenever  they  met. 

"It  was  the  only  case  on  record  of  a  battery  charging  strong 
earthworks.  They  had  four  years'  service,  always  at  the  front,  and 
never  lost  any  material  to  speak  of,  not  even  a  sponge  staff  or  grease 
bucket. 

"The  General  (Mower)  at  last  got  to  us  and  said,  'Gentlemen, 
I  am  proud  of  you.  It  was  needless  slaughter;  you  will  keep  fctiil 
till  dark,  and  then  move  back  to  your  position.'  As  the  men  cheered 
him  the  tears  stood  in  the  grand  man's  eyes — such  a  sacrifice  was 
entirely  needless." 

I  have  transcribed  this  account,  for  I  feel  that  it  is  due  to  the 
memory  of  those  men  who  have  passed  on,  and  to  those  who  still 
survive,  that  some  tribute  be  paid,  and  some  prominence,  more  then 
has  been  given,  allotted  to  them  for  deeds  of  bravery,  devotion  and 
self-sacrifice,  only  awaiting  some  Tennyson  to  immortalize  them  in 
verse  and  song,  forever  more. 

Trusting  that  this  little  account  (somewhat  extended  to  show 
the  character  of  the  assault  in  which  the  Second  Iowa  Battery  took 
so  prominent  a  part)  may  meet  with  your  kind  consideration,  and 
if  agreeable  to  have  it  done  I  would  be  glad  to  have  it  brought  to 
the  attention  of  the  meeting,  as  a  memoir  to  the  survivors,  from 
one  of  their  companions  who  fought  side  by  side  with  ihem  in  that 
grand  old  "Eagle  Brigade." 

Thanking  you  and  deeply  regretting  my  inability  to  be  present 
at  the  meeting  and  reunion,  with  sincere  respect,  I  am,  Very  truly, 

Harry  V.  Law, 
Son  of  the  late  Captain  and  Regimental  Quartermaster,  Samuel  A. 
L.   Law,   Forty-seventh   Illinois   Volunteer  Infantry,  with  the 
Eagle  Brigade. 

GENERAL  DODGE :  The  Second  Iowa  Battery  is  fortunate 
in  having  still  living  both  of  its  Captains,  and  both  are  members 
of  the  Society  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee.  I  will  call  on  Captain 
J.  R.  Reed  to  speak  to  you. 

—30— 


ADDRESS    OF    CAPTAIN    EEED. 

CAPTAIN  REED  :  The  occasion  of  this  reunion  of  the  Fourth 
Iowa  and  the  Second  Iowa  Battery  is  that  those  two  organizations 
were  formed  at  the  same  time  under  orders  to  General  Dodge  from 
the  War  Department  and  were  assembled  in  the  same  camp  at 
Council  Bluffs  in  1861.  The  Second  Iowa  Battery  was  mustered 
into  the  service  of  the  United  States  on  the  8th  day  of  August,  1861. 
Soon  after  that  it  proceeded  to  St.  Louis  in  company  with  a  portion 
of  the  Fourth  Iowa,  but  the  two  organizations  were  then  separated, 
and  never  served  together  during  the  war.  We  of  the  Second 
Iowa  Battery,  however,  know  the  general  history  of  the  service  of 
our  sister  organization.  Its  first  engagement  was  at  Pea  Ridge, 
Arkansas,  in  March,  1862.  Its  last  engagement  was  at  Bentonville, 
North  Carolina,  in  1865.  And  its  campaigns  covered  nearly  all 
the  country  lying  between  those  two  points.  It  participated  in  the 
campaigns  that  resulted  in  the  capture  of  Vicksburg.  It  was  at 
Lookout  Mountain.  It  was  in  the  Atlanta  campaign  and  the  March 
to  the  Sea,  and  the  march  northward  through  the  Carolinas  in  the 
spring  of.  1865.  We  know  that  in  all  its  engagements  and  cam- 
paigns it  acquitted  itself  with  great  glory,  and  great  credit  to  the 
State  and  the  Nation.  The  Second  Iowa  Battery  arrived  in  St. 
Louis  in  the  latter  part  of  August,  1861,  where  it  remained  until 
the  following  February.  It  received  its  equipment  and  armament 
in  November,  and  from  that  time  until  February  it  was  drilled 
and  instructed.  During  that  period  we  were  fortunate  in  securing 
as  a  Junior  First  Lieutenant  D.  P.  Walling,  who  had  served  a  term 
of  enlistment  in  the  Regular  Army,  and  was  thoroughly  drilled  in 
every  arm  of  the  service.  Under  his  careful  instructions  the  battery 
was  thoroughly  drilled,  and  when  it  entered  the  field  in  February 
was  perhaps  as  well  fitted  for  service  as  any  battery  in  the  volunteer 
service.  In  February,  1862,  we  were  assigned  to  the  Army  Corps 
known  as  the  Army  of  the  Mississippi,  and  commanded  by  Major- 
General  Pope.  Our  first  service  in  the  field  was  in  the  campaign 
which  resulted  in  the  capture  of  New  Madrid,  Missouri,  and  Island 
Number  Ten,  together  with  the  whole  confederate  force  which 
defended  them,  and  all  the  arms,  equipment  and  property.  Soon 
after  the  fall  of  those  posts  General  Pope's  command  was  moved 
up  the  Mississippi,  Ohio  and  Tennessee  rivers  and  formed  the  left 
wing  of  the  army  under  General  Halleck,  which  was  then  advancing 
upon  Corinth,  Mississippi.     We  participated  in  that  very  brilliant 

—31  — 


advance  by  Halleck  in  which  his  army  advanced  about  twenty  miles 
in  thirty  days.  We  were  engaged  in  two  sharp  affairs  during  the 
advance.  One  on  the  9th  of  May  and  the  other  on  the  28th  of  May. 
And  on  the  9th  we  sustained  our  first  loss,  when  one  of  our  men. 
Corporal  Cook,  was  mortally  wounded.  On  the  27th  the  battery 
rendered  very  important  service  in  repulsing  an  advance"  of  the 
enemy,  which  came  out  of  their  work  and  struck  the  division  to 
which  we  were  attached  in  the  flank,  rolling  them  up  to  some  extent 
and  creating  a  good  deal  of  confusion.  The  battery  changed  front 
to  the  right  under  a  sharp  fire  from  the  enemy  and  it  was  our  fire, 
delivered  very  rapidly,  that  checked  their  advance  and  drove  them 
back  within  their  works.  During  the  summer  of  1862  we  partici- 
pated in  all  the  campaigns  in  North  Mississippi  and  Alabama,  and 
participated  in  the  two  battles  of  Iuka  and  Corinth  in  September 
and  October.  At  Corinth,  on  the  first  day  of  the  battle,  the  prompt 
action  of  Captain  Spoor  in  placing  his  battery  in  an  advanced  posi- 
tion, where  he  was  without  infantry  support,  and  the  rapid  fire  of 
the  battery  checked  the  advance  of  the  enemy  at  a  time  when,  owing 
to  the  want  of  preparation  on  our  part,  the  enemy,  but  for  this 
prompt  action,  probably  would  have  captured  the  town  of  Corinth 
with  all  its  armament  and  the  immense  amount  of  public  property 
which  was  there  accumulated.  After  that  battle  the  battery  was 
with  the  army  under  Grant  in  his  campaign  against  Yicksburg, 
which  was  defeated  by  the  raid  of  General  Van  Dorn  into  Holly 
Springs,  and  the  destruction  of  the  supplies  for  his  army  which 
General  Grant  had  accumulated  at  that  place.  During  the  winter 
of  1862  and  '63  we  were  encamped  on  the  Memphis  and  Charlestown 
Eailroad  at  Germantown,  Tennessee,  and  in  February,  1863,  we 
went  with  our  division  down  the  Mississippi  Eiver  to  the  vicinity  of 
Yicksburg,  Mississippi,  where  the  division  was  assigned  to  the 
Fifteenth  Army  Corps,  which  was  then  commanded  by  Major- 
General  W.  T.  Sherman.  With  our  division  we  crossed  the  Missis- 
sippi Eiver  below  Vicksburg  on  the  night  of  the  1st  of  May,  and 
were  advanced  in  the  direction  of  Jackson,  Mississippi,  which  place 
we  reached  on  the  14th  of  May.  The  battery  was  near  the  head  of 
General  Sherman's  column  when  it  reached  the  enemy's  line  outside 
the  town.  The  brigade  to  which  we  were  attached  being  assigned 
to  that  position  by  General  Sherman  himself,  owing  to  his  great 
confidence  in  the  brigade  commander,  Brigadier-General  Joseph  A. 
Mower.  The  battery  engaged  the  battery  of  the  enemy  which 
was  outside  of  the  main  line  of  works,  and  after  a  sharp  engagement 

—32— 


drove  it  from  its  position  and  back  into  the  main  line.  We  were 
then  advanced  very  close  to  the  enemy's  line,  where  we  were  under 
the  fire  and  engaged  with  a  number  of  his  batteries.  The  engage- 
ment resulted  in  the  capture  of  the  city,  together  with  all  the  artil- 
lery in  his.  line  of  works,  and  all  the  public  property  in  the  city. 
After  two  days  employed  in  the  destruction  of  everything  in  the 
city  which  could  be  of  use  to  the  enemy,  we  were  turned  in  the 
direction  of  Vicksburg,  and  the  brigade  to  which  we  belonged  was 
again  assigned  by  General  Sherman,  by  special  order,  to  the  post  of 
honor  and  danger.  On  the  evening  of  the  18th  of  May  we  reached 
the  vicinity  of  the  enemy's  works  at  Vicksburg,  and  on  the  night  of 
the  19th  we  occupied  the  position  within  about  350  yards  of  the 
enemy's  lines,  which  we  held  until  the  22nd  of  June,  when  we  were 
withdrawn  from  the  line  of  investment  and  were  placed  in  the  rear 
line  formed  by  General  Sherman  against  General  Joseph  E.  John- 
ston, who  had  organized  a  force  with  which  he  threatened  General 
Grant's  rear,  and  threatened  to  raise  the  siege  of  Vicksburg  or  at 
least  release  the  garrison.  General  Dodge  has  had  read  in  your 
presence  a  paper  which  was  written  by  Captain  Law,  a  very  inti- 
mate friend  of  mine,  in  which  he  gives  an  account  of  the  action  of 
the  battery  on  the  22nd  of  May  at  the  time  of  the  general  assault 
on  the  enemy's  works.  You  men  of  the  Second  Iowa  Battery  who 
were  present  on  that  occasion  perhaps  will  not  remember  all  the 
things  which  were  attributed  to  you  in  that  paper.  In  fact,  I  fear 
that  my  friend,  Captain  Law,  was  in  a  romantic  state  of  mind 
when  he  wrote  that  article.  Two  of  the  pieces  were  advanced  into 
the  open  field  beyond  the  breastworks,  but  we  did  not  go  out  there 
into  that  position  of  danger  spontaneously  or  on  our  own  motion. 
The  Chief  of  Artillery  on  General  Sherman's  staff  asked  me  whether 
the  men  would  take  one  piece  outside  the  works  if  they  were  ordered 
to  do  so.  I  answered  him  that  those  men  were  accustomed  to  do, 
or  attempted  to  do,  what  they  were  ordered  to  do.  He  then  ordered 
me  to  take  one  of  the  pieces  out,  and  when  I  got  outside  of  the 
works  into  the  open  field  I  was  not  a  little  surprised  to  find  the 
other  piece  of  the  section  following  me.  The  men  at  the  piece 
having  understood  that  the  order  was  to  take  out  the  section.  We 
found  ourselves  in  a  very  exposed  condition,  and  in  a  very  short 
time  a  number  of  our  men  had  been  shot  down.  We,  however,  fired 
a  few  rounds  from  each  piece  when,  being  convinced  that  the  posi- 
tion was  untenable,  I  sought  and  procured  an  order  from  the  division 
commander  to  withdraw  the  pieces.     During  the  campaign  and  Bieze 

—33  — 


of  Vicksburg  we  had  two  men  killed  and  some  six  or  eight  wounded. 
After  the  surrender  of  Yieksburg  we  advanced  under  General  Sher- 
man to  Jackson  and  participated  in  the  siege  of  that  place,  which 
lasted  about  ten  days,  and  resulted  in  the  capture  again  of  the 
place  and  the  effectual  destruction  of  all  the  railroads  leading  into 
it,  so  that  from  that  time  until  the  end  of  the  war  the  city -had  no 
further  military  importance.  In  the  fall  of  1863  we  were  again 
moved  up  the  Mississippi  Eiver  and  were  stationed  during  that 
winter  at  La  Grange,  about  fifty  miles  east  of  Memphis.  In  Febru- 
ary following  we  again  went  down  the  river  to  Vicksburg  and  par- 
ticipated in  Sherman's  Meridian  expedition.  About  that  time  forty 
of  the  men  of  the  battery  re-enlisted  as  veterans,  and  were  sent  to 
the  State  to  enjoy  their  thirty-day  furlough.  The  division  to  which 
we  belonged  was  sent  on  the  Eed  Eiver  expedition  under  Banks,  but 
owing  to  the  absence  of  the  veterans  the  battery  escaped  that  disas- 
trous campaign.  We  went  back  to  Memphis,  where  we  were  joined 
in  due  time  by  the  veterans  and  a  number  of  recruits.  I  omitted  to 
mention  one  incident  that  occurred  in  the  Vicksburg  campaign 
during  our  first  advance  on  Jackson.  Almost  every  day  we  would 
see  a  boy  riding  along  the  column  who  seemed  to  be  under  the  com- 
mand of  nobody,  and  seemed  to  be  privileged  to  go  where  he  pleased 
and  do  what  he  pleased.  He  became  known,  I  think,  to  nearly  all 
the  men  in  the  Fifteenth  Army  Corps,  and  he  seemed  to  be  a  very 
independent  chap,  of  about  13  years  of  age.  We  all  understood 
at  the  time  that  he  was  the  son  of  the  Commanding  General,  and 
that  he  was  engaged  in  his  first  military  campaign,  and  I  want  to 
call  your  attention,  my  comrades,  to  that  boy,  who  is  with  us  today  a 
mature  man,  wearing  the  shoulder  straps  that  his  father  wore  when 
we  served  under  him,  namely  the  shoulder  straps  of  a  Major-General 
of  the  United  States  Army  (pointing  to  Major-General  Grant). 
After  the  return  of  our  division  from  the  Eed  Eiver  expedition  it 
became  necessary  to  give  attention  to  the  Confederate  General, 
Forrest,  who  had  been  operating  in  West  Tennessee  and  North  Mis- 
sissippi, and  whose  ultimate  campaign  seemed  to  be  directed  against 
General  Sherman's  line  of  communication,  in  his  advance  on  Atlan- 
ta. Before  that,  a  force  had  been  sent  out  from  Memphis,  Tenn., 
under  command  of  General  Sturges,  whose  orders  were  to  find  and 
destroy  the  force  of  Forrest.  Sturges  did  find  him,  but  he  didn't  de- 
stroy him.  Forrest  whipped  him  and  chased  him  back  to  Memphis,  a 
distance  of  about  sixty  miles,  capturing  his  army  train  and  all  of  his 
artillery  and  many  of  his  men,  and  when  that  army  got  back  to  Mem- 

—34— 


phis  it  was  the  saddest  and  most  demoralized  outfit  that  we  ever  saw. 
When  the  right  wing,  of  the  Sixteenth  Army  Corps,  under  General 
A.  J.  Smith,  assembled  at  Memphis,  after  the  Red  River  campaign, 
it  was  immediately  sent  to  the  interior  to  look  after  "Mr.  Forrest" 
and  his  people.  The  force  got  away  from  Memphis  early  in  July, 
and  on  the  12th,  13th  and  14th  the  Battle  of  Tupulo  was  fought, 
in  which  Smith  defeated  Forrest,  crippling  him  so  badly  that  he 
was  unable  to  do  anything  against  Sherman's  communications  until 
after  the  fall  of  Atlanta.  The  battery  was  engaged  on  each  day  of 
the  battle.  On  the  first  day,  while  the  coltmin  was  moving,  a 
brigade  of  Forrest's  people,  who  were  moving  on  a  converging  road, 
came  across  the  interval  and  attacked  the  column  immediately  ahead 
of  the  battery.  I  had  been  advised  of  the  presence  of  the  enemy 
very  close  to  the  road  we  were  moving  on,  and  had  reported  the 
fact  to  the  brigade  commander,  who  assured  me  that  he  had  taken 
such  precautions  as  that  a  surprise  was  impossible.  But  there  was 
a  surprise.  The  flankers  that  had  been  put  out  were  not  more 
than  ten  yards  from  the  road,  and  the  enemy  were  able  to 
approach  within  seventy-five  yards  before  their  presence  was  dis- 
covered. They  attacked  with  great  fury,  and  .for  a  few  minutes 
the  situation  was  very  critical.  One  section  of  another  battery  was 
immediately  in  front  of  us  and  it  received  the  enemy's  fire  and  went 
all  to  pieces.  We  quickly  placed  the  battery  in  such  position  that 
our  fire  would  enfilade  their  line,  and  in  a  very  few  minutes  we 
were  able  to  drive  them  out  in  great  confusion  and  with  considerable 
loss.  I  have  always  thought  that  the  promptness  of  the  battery  in 
meeting  this  situation  prevented  a  disaster,  for  without  it  the  enemy 
could  have  seized  the  road,  cutting  the  column  in  two,  and  it  would 
have  required  a  severe  engagement,  perhaps,  to  have  dispossessed 
them,  and  they  probably  would  have  destroyed  the  train.  I  have 
always  felt  a  very  great  satisfaction  in  the  performance  of  that  day. 
The  battery  was  very  highly  complimented  in  the  reports  of  the 
commander  of  the  brigade  we  were  marching  with,  and  one  or  two 
of  his  regimental  commanders.  A  short  time  before  this  attack 
another  brigade  of  the  enemy  had  attacked  the  column  some  dis- 
tance to  the  rear  and  created  a  good  deal  of  confusion  and  some 
loss  in  the  train,  but,  fortunately  for  us,  that  attack  fell  upon  the 
part  of  the  train  covered  by  the  Twelfth  Iowa,  which  was  com- 
manded by  my  old  school-boy  friend,  General  Stibbs,  who  is  present 
with  us  today,  and  he  very  promptly  put  his  regiment  in  action  and 
drove  off  the  attacking  force,  capturing  the  colors  of  one  of  the  regi- 

—35— 


ments  and  inflicting  very  considerable  loss  upon  them.  Immedi- 
ately after  these  attacks  the  column  moved  forward,  and  just  at 
nightfall  were  placed  in  line  of  battle  a  short  distance  west  of  the 
town  of  Tupulo.  Early  the  next  morning  the  enemy  made  a  very 
violent  attack  upon  the  position  occupied  by  the  battery,  which  was 
a  very  exposed  position,  but  our  flanks  were  well  protected  by  the 
infantry  and  we  poured  such  a  fire  of  canister  into  their  ranks  as 
broke  their  formation  and  eventually  drove  them  back  entirely. 
The  reported  loss  of  the  confederate  division  which  made  the  attack 
was  975,  and  all  that  loss  occurred  in  the  space  of  two  hours,  and 
was  inflicted  by  the  fire  of  the  battery  and  of  the  regiments  on  its 
right  and  left.  The  next  morning  the  enemy .  renewed  the  attack, 
but  they  were  again  driven  out,  and  driven  back  with  serious  loss. 
After  that  campaign  we  were  moved  through  Arkansas  and  Missouri 
in  pursuit  of  Price  in  his  invasion  of  Missouri.  We  were  moved 
into  the  northwest  part  of  the  State  of  Missouri  in  that  campaign, 
and  our  marches  covered  about  two  months,  but-  we  were  never 
able  to  come  up  with  the  enemy.  We  were  then  moved  back  to 
St.  Louis,  marching  overland  across  the  State,  and  were  placed  on 
transports  and  went  to  Nashville,  Tennessee,  where  we  arrived  od 
the  30th  of  Xovember,  and  where  we  participated  in  the  two  days' 
battle  at  that  place  which  resulted  in  the  practical  destruction  of 
Hood's  army.  During  the  following  winter  our  corps  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  Department  of  the  Gulf,  where  we  participated  in  the 
siege  of  Spanish  Fort  on  the  east  side  of  Mobile  Bay.  After  the 
fall  of  Mobile  we  marched  overland  to  Montgomery,  Alabama. 
While  on  that  march  we  received  the  news  of  Lee's  surrender,  which 
we  all  knew  meant  the  end  of  the  war.  We  were  afterwards  moved 
to  Selma,  Alabama,  where  the  battery  remained  in  camp  until  July, 
when  it  was  ordered  back  to  the  State  and  was  mustered  out  of  the 
service.  The  muster  out  was  on  the  7th  day  of  August,  1865. 
The  muster  into  the  service  was  on  the  8th  day  of  August,  1861,  so 
that  the  period  of  our  service  was  exactly  four  years.  When  mus- 
tered into  the  service  the  battery  numbered  eighty-six  men  and  three 
officers.  During  the  period  of  our  service  we  received  about  seventy 
recruits,  so  that  the  total  enlistment  amounted  to  nearly  160  men. 
I  deem  it  proper  to  say  a  few  words  as  to  the  quality  of  those  men. 
They  came  from  many  vocations  in  life.  The  majority  of  them, 
however,  were  boys  from  the  farms  of  Iowa,  They  were  men  of  a 
verv  high  order  of  intelligence,  and  they  learned  the  duties  of  the 
soldier  in  a  very  short  time.     Nothing  like  military  discipline  was 

— 36— 


necessary  in  the  company.  There  was  no  tying  np  of  men  by  the 
thumbs  or  to  the  fifth  wheels  of  the  caisson.  It  very  rarely  happened 
that  a  man  was  absent  from  his  post  of  duty  when  he  was  required 
to  be  at  that  post.  There  were  no  cowards  among  them.  I  know 
of  but  two  instances  during  our  nearly  a  hundred  clays  of  battle  in 
which  men  absented  themselves  from  their  posts  of  duty,  and  in 
each  of  those  cases  there  was  much  to  excuse  the  culprit,  and 
the  wonder  was  that  more  of  the  men  did  not  follow  their  example. 
At  the  end  of  the  war  they  took  up  their  duties  of  citizenship. 
They  returned  to  their  farms,  their  offices  and  their  shops,  and 
resumed  the  labors  which  had  been  interrupted  by  the  outbreak  of 
the  war,  and  the  great  majority  of  them  have  been  measurably  suc- 
cessful in  life.  I  am  confident  that  there  was  not  a  better  organiza- 
tion of  men  in  the  whole  army,  and  it  has  always  been  a  matter  of 
pride  with  me  that  I  was  so  intimately  associated  with  them,  for  I 
was  in  command  of  them  for  two  and  one-half  years  of  their  service 
and  was  with  them  during  nearly  all  of  the  four  years.  What  I 
have  said  of  their  service  is  but  a  meager  synopsis  of  it.  It  conveys 
but  little  idea  of  the  labor  they  performed,  the  hardships  they 
endured,  and  the  dangers  they  faced.  But  it  is  as  much,  I  feel,  as 
I  ought  to  say  in  the  brief  time  alloted  to  me.  It  has  doubtless 
occurred  to  you,  my  comrades,  at  many  times  since  the  war,  when 
you  contemplated  all  you  had  suffered  and  done  and  endured,  and 
when  things  in  this  world  were  not  all  going  pleasantly  or  as  you 
would  wish,  to  ask  yourselves  whether  all  that  was  worth  while. 
But  I  say  to  you,  my  comrades,  that  it  was  worth  while.  It  was 
worth  while  to  demonstrate  to  the  world  that  this  government  of 
ours  was  so  fixed  in  the  affections  of  the  people  of  this  country  that 
it  was  invulnerable  to  any  attack  whether  of  invasion  or  insurrection, 
which  might  be  made  upon  it.  It  was  worth  while  to  fix,  as  was 
done  by  the  labor  of  the  armies,  as  a  great  principle  of  the  funda- 
mental law,  that  before  the  law  every  citizen  was  the  equal  of  every 
other  citizen.  It  was  worth  while,  as  I  have  often  thought,  to 
teach  the  men  of  the  South  that  we  men  of  the  North,  who  earned 
our  bread  by  the  sweat  of  our  own  brows,  were  not  a  mere  commu- 
nity of  shopkeepers  and  workers,  but  that  we  were  brave  men ;  that 
we  possessed  courage  and  all  the  higher  qualities  of  manhood 
equally  with  themselves.  Comrades,  we  have  grown  old.  Our  work 
in  life  is  done.  We  have  turned  our  backs  on  the  activities  of  life 
and  we  face  the  setting  sun.  But  we  may  justly  thank  God  thai  it 
was  given  to  us  to  live,  and  to  do,  in  the  heroic  age  of  our  country. 

—37— 


PRIVATE    KING'S    POEM. 

Private  A.  D.  King,  Company  K,  Fourth  Iowa  Infantry,  read 
his  poem : 

In  Memory  of  the  Campaigns,  Marches,  Camps,  and  Battlefields  of 
Fourth  Iowa  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry,  1861-1865. 

It  was  August,  eighteen  hundred  sixty-one,  the  Iowa  Fourth  to 

work  begun, 
Pitching  camp   at   Council   Bluffs   commenced   our   work   without 

much  fuss. 
The  call  that  came  for  men  to  arms  brot  patriots  from  shops  and 

farms, 
We  left  the  farm,  the  plow,  the  forge,  led  on  by  Colonel  G-.  M. 

Dodge. 

One  thousand  men,  that  was  our  number,  leaving  homes  and  friends 

asunder, 
Marching  south  with  flags  and  banners,  dressed  in  uniforms  of  blue, 
Called  by  Lincoln  and  our  Kirkwood,  responding  to  our  country's 

call, 
We  started  south,    with    gun    and    knapsack,    leaving   loved    ones, 

friends  and  all. 

At  Camp  Rolla,  in  the  winter  of  the  year  of  sixty-one, 
In  cold  barracks  near  the  depot,  now  our  drilling  had  begun. 
By  company  and  battalion  movements,  and  taught  to  walk  upright, 
For  soon  the  boys  of  this  command  must  meet  the  Gray  in  stubborn 
fight. 

Can  we  forget  the  march  to  Springfield  in  the  winter,  cold  and 

bleak? 
And  how  the  roads  were  rough  and  rocky  on  the  march  to  Sugar 

Creek? 
At  Cross  Hollow  we  were  halted  near  Elk  Tavern,  on  the  road 
Where  the  shot  from  gun  and  cannon  echoed  o'er  the  hills  abode. 

At  Pea  Ridge — month  of  March,  eighteen  hundred  sixty-two, 
This  date  and  that  battle  mean  much  to  me  and  you. 
Price's  army,  strong  and  vigorous,  here  upheld  their  flag  of  bars, 
But  Curtis,  with  his  western  soldiers  met  him,  under  Stripes  and 
Stars. 

On  the  shoulders  of  our  Colonel  appeared  a  bright  and  single  star, 
And  our  banners,  smoked  and  tattered,  honorable  mention  made  of 

war. 
We  were  sad  of  comrades  dying  and  with  wounded  men  in  pain, 
On  these  hills  in  cold,  bleak  weather,  in  the  snow,  the  sleet,  the  rain. 

—38— 


Colonel  J.  A.  Williamson  in  command,  our  march  was  slow  and 

steady, 
Batesville  seemed  to  be  the  point,  and  we  were  always  ready. 
We  reached  that  place  sometime  in  June  and  rested  from  our  labor, 
Watched  other  men  with  horse  and  gun,  with  cannon  and  with  sabre. 

We  reached  Helena  in  July,  when  malaria  and  mosquitoes  fly; 
And  Eobbins  had  his  time  employed  in  fighting  flux  and  typhoid. 
We  tramped  our  beats  on  picket  guard,  and  Captains  drilled  us 

good  and  hard; 
We  furnished  men  for  work  on  fort  and  ate  our  meals  of  beans 

and  pork. 

When  Sherman  moved  his  army  south  en  route  to  Vicksburgh's 

heights, 
He  took  with  him  .such  tried  true  men  all  schooled  to  march  and 

fight. 
So  Eeed  and  Griffith,  with  their  men,  were  told  with  us  to  go 
On  board  a  steamer,  stem  to  stern,  on  decks  of  John  J.  Roe. 

Among  the  boats  which  took  these  troops  slowly  down  the  river, 
Were  escorts  from  Porter's  fleet — the  Carondalet  and  Benton — 
They  protected  us  in  front  and  flanks  as  southward  we  were  moving, 
And  landed  us  on  Yazoo's  banks  on  a  December  morning. 

The  twenty-ninth  day  of  December  in  fog,  rain,  and  chilly  weather, 
Steele  dispatched  Brigade  command,  General  Thayer,  doomed  to 

disaster, 
Leading  men  who  always  followed  after  him,  who  never  faltered, 
Charged  across  that  fatal  bridge,  and  drove  the  rebs  from  bank  to 

ridge. 

Disastrous  was  this  bridge  assault,  if  any  blame  Steele  was  at  fault ; 
Thayer  and  Williamson  led  the  van,  and  when  with  loss  of  each 

third  man 
The  bugle  sounded  to  retreat,  amid  the  shot,  the  smoke  and  heat, 
Retreat  was  sore,  defeat  was  bad,  the  losses  made  our  comrades  sad. 

On  Arkansas  river  stood  Ft.  Hindman,  manned  by  men  who  wore 

the  gray, 
They  said  this  fort  cannot  be  taken,  but  soon  they  had  another  say; 
Off  to  the  right  and  left  they  marched  us,  through  the  nighl   and 

early  morn, 
Surrounding  them  from   all   directions — stopped    their   mill    from 

grinding  corn. 

When  the  Carondalet  and  Benton  had  reduced  and  silenced  fort; 
When  our  Infantry  and  Batteries  had  peached  the  place  to  do  good 
work, 

—39— 


Up  the  staff  within  Ft.  Hinclman  shot  a  flag  of  peaceful  white. 
And  soon  six  thousand  Johnnies  were  going  north  without  much 
fight. 

South  once  more  we  go  by  transport  down  the  Mississippi's  banks, 
At  Milliken's  Bend  we  make  landing  and  in  swamp  we  made  our 

camp ; 
The  moss  that  grew  on  native  trees  provided  beds  for  you  and  me ; 
Then  came  pests  of  flies  and  'skeeters,  many  died  from  flux^  and 

measles. 

On  the  canal  we  worked  with  shovels,  pick  axes,  and  with  spade 
While  Lady  Davis  and  Whistling  Dick  confusion  and  terror  made; 
For  these  shells  exploding  among  our  men  who  were  resting  in  camp, 
While  proving  not  so  fatal  yet  always  gave  us  cramp. 

There  came  a  day  when  said  our  Grant,  "We're  ready  for  the  fray," 
Four  gunboats,  six  transports,  passed  safely  down  before  break  of 

day; 
Our  army  now  was  soon  transferred  from  west  to  eastern  shore, 
Pemberton  and  his  command  were  bewildered  more  and  more. 

On  a  Mississippi  ironclad  we  were  put  on  the  eastern  shore, 

With  the  whole   command   including   Shermans   Fifteenth   Army 

Corps, 
On  our  way  through  Mississippi  though  fought  in  dust  and  heat, 
Resulted  in  Jackson's  capture,  with  the  Johnnies  in  full  retreat. 

We  hear  the  roar  of  battle  of  the  guns  at  Champion's  Hill, 
But  before  we  reach  the  charging  lines  the  Johnnies  had  their  fill ; 
Here  the  gray  coats  were  divided  and  retreated  in  despair, 
Pemberton  going  west  and  Johnson's  men  in  air. 

At  Black  Eiver  Bridge  retreating  foe  put  up  another  fight, 
And  the  boys  in  gray  were  troubled  much  both  day  and  night; 
But  resistance  could  not  stop  the  march  of  Grant's  brave  men, 
Until  Pemberton  and  his  army  were  cooped  up  in  a  pen. 

Do  you  recall  that  day  in  May  in  eighteen  sixty-three, 
When  we  peeped  just  over  craggy  bluffs  the  Johnnies'  work  to  see  ? 
Their  forts  of  earth  and  rifle  pits  were  planned  by  men  of  brain — 
But  the  plans  were  executed  by  the  race  that  came  from  Cain. 

'Twas  July  4th  of  that  same  year  a  flag  we  saw  with  murmured 

cheer 
Hoisted  high  o'er  forts  and  breastworks  held  by  brave  and  brawney 

men, 
But  the  flag  was  white,  meaning  much  to  us  though  sad  defeat  to 

them, 
And  these  guns,  these  battle  flags  we  would  not  face  again. 

—40— 


At  midnight  we  with  Sherman  moved  with  rapid  pace  towards  a  foe 
Who  had  hounded  us  in  rear  and  flank  for  forty  days  or  more ; 
Cunning  Joe  E.  Johnson,  backed  by  gray  coats  strong  and  brave, 
Vicksburgh  and  the  Mississippi  had  tried  so  hard  to  save. 

We  forced  them  back  to  Jackson  where  we  'occupied  their  tents, 
The  State  House,  public  buildings,  with  cannon  balls  were  rent, 
And  machine  shops  and  factories  which  provided  them  with  food, 
Went  up  in  smoke  and  ashes  for  their  future  and  our  good. 

We  finished  up  our  business  with  Johnson  and  his  men, 
Back  toward  Black  Eiver  Bridge  we  marched  due  west  again, 
Where  we  settled  down  to  camp  and  rest  from  weary  days  of  battle, 
And  Uncle  Sam  he  met  us  there  with  greenbacks,  bread  and  cattle. 

Our  rest  in  camp  was  short  and  sweet,  time  to  wash  our  face  and 

feet; 
The  time  was  short  we  could  see  there  was  trouble  in  old  Tennessee. 
Our  troops  at  Knoxville,  at  Mission  Ridge  were  sore  pressed  by 

Breckenridge ; 
We  marched  with  Sherman  as  relief  and  helped  to  give  the  gray 

coats  grief. 

We  have  visions  of  our  Logan,  Hooker,  Osterhaus  and  Stone, 
Of  Nichols,  Burton,  Jack  Sells,  and  others  that  were  known, 
And  in  memory  climb  old  Lookout  amid  the  fog  and  shot, 
For  the  Johnnies  on  the  summit  they  made  it  warm  and  hot. 

On  November  twenty-fourth  as  we  stood  on  Lookout's  height, 
We  could  see  our  Uncle  William  and  his  men  engaged  in  fight 
Near  Tunnel  Hill,  the  left  of  Grant's  advancing  posts, 
And  old  Pap  Thomas,  near  Orchard  Knob,  with  his  unshaken  hosts. 

The  scene  presented  here  was  grand  at  noonday's  fullest  light, 
Of  more  than  fifty  thousand  men  engaged  in  deadly  strife, 
We  could  look  over  the  city  and  see  the  pontoon  bridge, 
And. all  the  surging  battle  on  Missionary  Ridge. 

We  reached  the  ridge  the  twenty-fifth,  on  right  at  Roswell  Gap, 
Where  Breckenridge,  with  steel  armed  men,  opposed  our  onward 

march. 
The  battle  raged  from  noon  till  night,  the  Johnnies  then  gave  way, 
For  the  pluck  of  Grant's  old  army  had  bravely  saved  the  day. 

That  day  at  Taylor's  Ridge — no  comrade  can  forget  it — 
Who  in  that  storm  of  leaden  hail  retreated  down  the  hill, 
Nine  Sergeants  in  our  Regiment  in  death  lay  still  and  cold, 
While  the  wounded,  they  were  many,  made  up  our  honor  roll. 

—  41  — 


We  countermarched  o'er  roads  and  scenes  we'd  passed  few  days  be- 
fore, 
Our  haversacks  were  empty,  our  feet  were  worn  and  sore; 
"We  hungered  for  the  bacon,  hard  tack,  coffee,  and  the  salt. 
But  marched  a  good  long  distance  before  we  came  to  halt. 

We  pitched  our  tents  at  Woodville,  in  Alabama  state, 
We  boiled  our  shirts,  cooked  our  beans  and  with  satisfaction  ate ; 
We  stood  our  turn  at  picket  guard  we  came  at  bugle's  call, 
The  reville,  the  mounting  guard,  but  tattoo  best  of  all. 

Were  you  among  that  number  who  at  Woodville  re-enlisted 
For  the  finish  of  the  war  ?    That's  what  we  all  insisted ; 
The  trip  back  north  on  furlough  through  Iowa,  our  state — 
The  receptions,  the  honors,  and  the  good  things  we  ate. 

Do  you  recall  that  day  at  Des  Moines,  in  State  House  or  City  Hall  ? 
Williamson  traded  coats  with  Kirkwood  who  took  command  of  all ; 
But  his  commands  were  like  a  father  who  loved  his  sons  so  dear, 
What  he  said  of  the  Iowa  Fourth  brought  forth  a  ringing  cheer. 

We  were  honored  and  respected  by  the  people  and  the  press, 
We  were  wined  and  dined  by  ladies  as  special  honord  guests; 
The  Iowa  legislature  in  session  passed  resolutions  good, 
The  banner  for  Iowa  Fourth  we  received  while  fighting  Hood. 

Do  you  recall  how  Kirkwood  solved  the  transportation  through  the 

State, 
Of  all  our  boys  who  lived  a  distance  from  Des  Moines  ? 
He  hired  a  good,  strong  man  with  team  and  wagon  at  command, 
And  loaded  up  in  squads  of  ten  we  boys  who  fought  as  Dodge's  Men. 

We  had  a  time  there,  thirty  days,  memory  of  which  will  never  fade; 
Too  soon  the  days  passed  swiftly  by,  and  friends  clasped  hands  with 

you  and  I, 
And  once  again  at  Davenport  we  cross  the  state  to  make  report, 
With  hopes  as  high  as  you  will  see  join  Sherman  down  in  Tennessee. 

With  Sherman,  in  the  month  of  May,  near  Eesaca,  one  warm  day, 
We  started  in,  hopes  so  bright — Atlanta  campaign — to  march,  to 

fight. 

The  boys  who  this  campaign  went  through  are  recorded  both  brave 

and  true, 
The  days  were  hot,  the  nights  were  warm,  campaign  fully  four 

months  long. 

We  met  the  gray  at  Ackworth,  Big  Shanty  and  Kingston,  near  their 

home 
At  Dallas,  at  Decatur,  at  Buzzard  Boost,  at  Rome; 

—42— 


At  Kennesaw  our  lines  reached  out  almost  around  the  gray, 
Johnson  slipped  the  noose,  crossing  Chattahoochee  before  break  of 
day. 

Between  Atlanta  and  Decatur  on  a  hot,  dry  July  day, 
Hood  massed  his  brave,  strong  army,  with  hope  of  victory  and  dis- 
may; 
Off  on  left  of  Sherman's  army,  Hood  advanced  to  dislodge 
That  Veteran  Sixteenth  Army  Corps  commanded  by  our  General 
Dodge. 

Battle  raged  from  early  morning  until  noonday's  brightest  sun, 
Fought  they,  from  front  and  rear,  until  victory  they  had  won ; 
Hood  used  the  pride  of  his  army  massed  on  the  Sixteenth  Corps, 
They  driving  him  back  with  frightful  loss,  defeat  swift,  sad  and  sore. 

On  Logan's  loth  Corps  Hood  hurled  troops  ten  thousand  men  or 

more, 
And  midst  the  heat  of  shot  and  shell  our  own  beloved  McPherson 

fell, 
The  mantle  of  McPherson  on  an  honored  hero  fell, 
On  the  shoulders  of  our  Logan  whom  we  loved  so  long  and  well. 

Logan  never  failed  where  duty  called,  ever  ready,  quick  and  true, 
Loved  and  worshipped  by  his  Army,  known  by  all  who  wore  the 

blue; 
And  the  Johnnies  learned  to  fear  him  for  he  struck  such  mighty 

blows, 
With  his  army-badge  of  Cartridge  Box,  the  famous  Fifteentli  Army 

Corps. 

Do  you  recall  that  fort  on  the  hill  our  Regiment  could  hardly  fill, 
And  the  Brigade  of  Cray  Coats  that  came  charging  with  yell, 
And  brave  Comrades  around  you  that  mortally  fell, 
The  hot,  weary  night,  victory  won,  and  orders  to  march  at  rising  of 
sun. 

Hood  and  Atlanta  not  yet  in  our  grasp  we  move  to  the  right,  an- 
other big  task; 

Southwest  of  Atlanta  on  railroad  of  fame  supplying  Hood's  army 
with  rations  and  men, 

We  halted  one  morn,  28th  of  July,  at  Ezra  Chapel,  or  very  Dear  by, 

Destroying  this  railroad  completely,  in  fact  not  even  a  rabbit  could 
run  on  its  track. 

We  stuck  to  the  text  throughout  the  campaign,  a  skirmish,  a  battle, 

again  and  again, 
And  for  four  long  months  in  the  heat  of  that  state 

—43  — 


We  marched  and  we  fought  both  early  and  late, 
Hood  having  given  his  famous  last  blow,  gave  up  Atlanta,  conclud- 
ed to  go. 

Our  rest  was  quite  brief,  held  at  Sherman's  behest,  Hood  decided  to 

take  a  trip  west; 
We  heard  guns  of  Corse  at  Allatoona,  where  rations  stored  for  our 

Army, 
Sherman's  historic  signal  from  a  far  away  station; 
Corse  he  knocked  the  Johnnies  out  and  saved  us  all  our  rations. 

General  Thomas  was  instructed  to  watch  Hood  throughout  Tennes- 
see: 
He  followed  him,  as  history  tells,  anywhere  Hood  might  be, 
And  at  a  place  named  Franklin  Hood  decided  he  would  fight, 
Eesulting  in  loss  of  his  whole  command  except  those  who  fled  by 
night. 

November,  eighteen  sixty-four,  we  mustered  sixty  thousand  men  or 

more; 
No  better  soldiers  marched  on  ground,  in  health,  training,  all  were 

sound ; 
With  Sherman  as  our  guiding  star  we  started  south,  we  knew  not 

where, 
Full  faith  in  Sherman  as  our  guide  we  felt  a  soldier's  manly  pride. 

Through  Georgia  state  from  side  to  side — Hood  had  left  it  open 

wide — 
We  marched  with  men  of  pluck  and  cheer  without  a  doubt,  or  kick, 

or  fear; 
Some  forty  days  we  spent  en  route,  reached  Savannah  as  our  station, 
Sherman  telegraphed  to  Lincoln — Savannah  a   Christmas  gift  to 

nation. 

Comrades,  I  am  ^lad  that  vou  and  me  marched  from  Atlanta  to  the 

Sea, 
It  will  travel  down  the  shores  of  time  in  prose,  in  text  books,  in 

rhyme ; 
It  means  that  Dodge's  first  old  guard  has  seen  service  good  and 

hard, 
And  that  button  on  your  breast  was  earned  by  service  of  the  best, 

It  was  January,  sixty-five,  in  port  of  Beaufort  we  arrived ; 

Here  Logan  came  in  cold  and  rain  to  take  command  of  Corps  again. 

And  the  Carolina's  cold  damp  sod  we  placed  our  faith  in  arms,  in 

God, 
For  winter  winds  were  bleak  and  cold  with  blankets  wet,  worn, 

and  old. 

— 44 — 


We  reached  Columbia  on  our  way,  Stone's  Brigade  of  Iowa, 
First  to  enter,  took  possession;  history  tells  us  this  is  true; 
And  we  boys  who  still  survive  claim  this  honor  while  alive; 
When  we're  dead  we'll  let  the  text  book  tell  the  story  that  is  written. 

Speed  we  on  through  Carolina  into  a  neighboring  state, 
At  Bentonville,  North  Carolina,  met  the  gray  in  last  debate, 
And  at  Kaleigh  we  were  quartered  when  news  of  Lee's  surrender 
Brought  such  poy,  peace  and  comfort  that  we  hardly  knew  the  date. 

Here  the  news  of  assassination  of  the  Chief  we  loved  so  well, 
Knit  the  brows,  showed  the  wrinkles  on  faces  of  men  as  they  would 

tell 
Of  the  many  faultless  features  of  our  Lincoln  and  his  reign, 
Or  the  wrath  that  would  befall  the  clog  that  caused  the  nation's 

strain. 

Now  the  war  is  over,  Comrade,  and  we  are  marching  homeward,  led 
Through  by  Eichmond  and  such  places,  where  our  brothers  fought 

and  bled; 
Through  Petersburg  and  other  places  of  historic  name, 
All  of  which,  if  we  remember,  made  some  men  of  nation's  fame. 

At  Mt.  Vernon  near  Potomac  we  camped  as  best  we  could, 
And  breaking  all  our  records  were  issued  dry,  hard  wood ; 
This,  though  breaking  former  records  was  essential  for  our  good, 
For  such  things  as  rails  for  fuel  here  was  never  understood. 

Our  work  all  done  we  pass  in  grand  review  in  Washington, 

We  marched  with  pride  and  honor,  with  accoutrements  and  gun, 

Some  were  ragged,  some  were  shoeless,  our  clothes  were  soiled  and 

bad, 
But  a  better  bunch  of  soldiers  Uncle  Sam  he  never  had. 

Yes,  our  Mule  came  in  the  column  packed  with  shovels  and  with 

spades, 
And  on  his  back  camp  kettles  and  such  that  always  paid 
To  have  around  in  time  of  need  among  the  class  of  men  where  we 

had  learned  our  trade, 
So  Mr.  Mule  was  in  the  ranks  in  his  place  in  the  grand  parade. 

The  march  is  through,  two  mmrded  thousand  men  passed  in  grand 

review, 
We  were  sent  by  boat,  by  rail  to  our  homes  or  western  tra  i  1  ; 
Not  in  Pullman's  nor  in  cabins  of  the  train  or  steaming  bout. 
But  in  grain  or  live  stock  cars,  or  on  the  decks  afloat. 

—45— 


We  were  sent  to  Parkersburg  b)r  rail  in  cars  for  cattle, 
Then  down  the  Ohio  River  by  boats  that  were  really  ratty, 
At  Louisville  we  disembarked,  we  quartered  in  Kentucky, 
Doing  povost  guard,  a  happy  change,  we  felt  that  we  were  lucky. 

August  came,  just  four  years  from  time  of  leaving  state, 

In  these  old,  worn  out  cars  we  gladly  took  our  place. 

We  started  north  to  Davenport  in  the  state  from  whence  we  roamed, 

We  were  mustered  out  and  started  back  to  loved  ones  and  our  homes. 

But  few  are  here  who  made  the  rounds  that  I  here  relate, 
Full  fifty  years  have  passed  away  since  first  we  left  the  state ; 
Most  of  the  boys  have  passed  beyond  the  stage  of  war  and  strife, 
And  very  few,  as  you  well  know,  can  march  to  drum  and  fife. 

But  few  are  here,  not  ten  per  cent  of  the  boys  who  marched  away 
From  Council  Bluffs  in  sixty-one  in  the  grand  Fourth  Iowa, 
But  we  see  the  face  of  one  who  was  first  in  our  command, 
We  wonder  at  his  strength  and  grit,  there's  none  greater  in  our  land. 

Let  us  not  overlook  in  memory,  if  in  verse  we  fail  to  name, 
The  many  comrades  in  our  ranks  who  were  always  brave  and  game, 
There's  one  who  proved  a  hero,  from  Council  Bluffs  he  came, 
He  led,  he  died  at  Black  River  Ridge,  Colonel  Kinsman  his  name. 

His  remains  are  now  resting  'neath  Iowa's  sacred  sod, 

Rescued  from  an  unknown  grave  by  his  friend  our  General  Dodge ; 

A  shaft  has  been  erected  with  inscriptions  on  the  same, 

An  honor  to  his  comrades,  sacred  to  his  deeds  and  name. 

There's  another  band  of  men  we  love,  they  always  hove  in  sight, 
Captain  Reed  and  Harry  Griffith's  boys,  who  early  learned  to  fight ; 
And  when  their  guns  swung  into  line,  with  grape  and  cannon  shot, 
With  the  old  Fourth  as  their  support,  they  made  things  really  hot. 

Some  begrudge  these  men  the  pensions  Uncle  Sam  sees  fit  to  give, 
Some  are  old,  weak,  sickly,  some  struggling  hard  to  live; 
Others  with  amputations,  and  their  wounds  although  concealed, 
All  underwent  exposure  on  the  march,  the  battlefield. 

The  government  cannot  repay  for  the  work  we  did  in  the  sixties, 
We  gave  up  every  joy  of  life  and  marched  down  south  to  Dixie. 
It's  enough  to  know  that  by  our  work  the  country  stands  united, 
So,  if  some  journals  call  us  grafters  don't  become  excited. 

If  we're  the  boys  charged  with  graft  from  Uncle  Sam's  box  of  cash, 
I'd  like  to  ask  if  none  deserved  it  ?  If  we  were  ciphers  in  the  clash  ? 
If  for  moneyed  compensation  we'd  been  offered  Wkll  Street's  gold, 
Xot  a  man  would  undertake  it  from  the  history  I  have  told. 

—46— 


There'll  be  another  glad  handshake  on  Canaan's  peaceful  shore, 
We  will  rally  round  our  banner,  boys,  our  loss  will  be  no  more; 
We  Will  all  be  of  one  color  the  same  in  Spirit's  hue, 
And  none  can  tell,  if  they  should  want,  who  wore  the  Gray,  the  Blue. 

Council  Bluffs,  again  we  greet  you  at  the  close  of  fifty  years, 
When  we  left  you  in  the  sixties  many  were  in  silent  tears ; 
You  were  kind  with  loving  treatment  as  we  boys  marched  far  away, 
With  your  prayers  for  our  protection  gallant  old  Fourth  Iowa. 

Kind  thoughts  slumber  in  our  memory,  we  feel  it  yet  in  every  heart, 
It  followed  us  in  every  battle,  in  ever}r  action  you  were  part; 
We  now  impose  a  pleasant  duty,  in  your  minds  we  trust  will  lodge, 
The  kindest  care,  with  loving  hands,  bestow  it  on  our  General  G.  M. 
Dodge. 

In  Iowa,  our  native  soil,  in  boyhood  days  we  learned  to  toil, 

We  left  your  soil,  we  left  the  farm,  when  rebels  dared  the  flag  to 

harm. 
Let  us  hail  Our  Iowa,  all  cannot  reach  her  every  day, 
But  come  what  may,  come  what  will,  Old  Iowa  State  we  love  you 
still. 

Comrades  I  know  you're  pleased,  and  you  ought  to  be, 
For  you  fought  with  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee, 
In  the  Fifteenth  Army  Corps,  we're  pleased  to  say, 
And  the  gallant  old  Fourth  Iowa. 

We  love  the  record  that  was  made  on  battlefields,  on  march,  parade, 
"While  in  our  memory  long  will  lodge  our  first  commander,  General 
Dodge. 

ADDRESS  OF  GEXERAL  GRAXT. 

Major  General  Frederick  D.  Grant  was  then  introduced  and 
made  a  short  talk,  but  his  principle  address  to  the  Veterans  of  the 
Fourth  Iowa  and  Dodge's  Battery  was  made  in  the  evening  at  the 
opera  house,  and  was  as  follows : 

General  Dodge,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,   Veterans  of  the   Fourth 

Iowa  Regiment  and  of  the  Dodge  Battery : 

I  am  grateful  to  be  with  you  here,  and  I  feel  deeply  honored  in 
receiving  your  kind  welcome  to  the  son  of  one  who  was  your  friend 
and  Comrade — General  U.  S.  Grant. 

Xo  distance,  no  duties,  nothing  could  prevent  my  coming  to 
Council  Bluffs  to  meet  you  on  this  occasion,  and  to  greet  your  for- 
mer  Colonel,   Iowa's   distinguished   citizen,    General    Groin  i lie    M. 

—47— 


Dodge,  for  whom  my  father  and  my  fathers  son  have  cherished  al- 
ways heartfelt  admiration  and  friendship. 

I  wish  to  add  my  tribute  of  praise  and  thanks  to  him  whose 
work  and  deeds  have  been  an  honor  to  the  great  State  of  Iowa,  and 
of  lasting  service  to  his  country.  Fortunately  for  me,  I  was  with 
my  father  much  of  the  time  during  those  dark  days  of  the  Civil 
War ;  and  through  that  terrible  struggle  for  the  Union,  I,  as  a  boy, 
witnessed  that  untiring  devotion  to  duty,  loyalty  and  unflinching 
courage  of  those'  noble  great  men  whose  names  must  shine  forth  for- 
ever upon  the  rolls  of  honor  in  the  archives  of  our  nation.  I  am 
thankful  to  have  seen  and  known  these  heroes.  I  rejoice  in  having 
distinct,  personal  recollections  of  those  distinguished  Americans, 
who,  putting  aside  all  selfish  or  personal  interests,  when  their  coun- 
try was  in  need,  when  the  Northern  people  were  discouraged,  has- 
tened, with  grim  determination,  to  sacrifice  their  all,  their  lives  if 
necessary,  for  the  restoration  of  peace  in  our  land. 

It  is  to  those  heroes  of  our  Northern  Armies,  to  General  Dodge, 
to  you  Veterans  here,  and  to  those  others,  your  Comrades  gone  be- 
fore, that  we  owe  this  great,  beautiful  country,  with  North  and 
South  united,  resting  in  that  peace  and  harmony  in  which  this  pres- 
ent generation  so  triumphs. 

I  have  known  and  heard  always  of  your  loyal  heroism  and  that 
of  your  Colonel,  but  I  wish  to  speak  a  word  now  not  only  of  heroes, 
but  of  a  friend  for  whom  I  have  cherished  always  the  warmest  ^ad- 
miration and  affection  inherited  from  my  father  and  ever  increas- 
ing throughout  my  long  association  with  him.  I  refer  to  your  much 
loved  citizen,  General  Dodge. 

I  yield  to  no  one,  not  to  you,  his  veteran  comrades,  not  to  your 
State  of  Iowa,  nor  to  his  own  family  and  nearest  friends,  as  possess- 
ing a  warmer  or  deeper  feeling  of  devotion  than  my  own  for  Gen- 
eral Dodge.  In  this  affection  my  son,  Ulysses  S.  Grant  3d,  and  all 
my  family  join  with  me. 

It  was  to  General  Dodge  I  confided  my  distress  and  grief  on  first 
learning  that  my  dear  father  was  stricken  with  a  fatal  illness  and 
his  days  were  numbered.  When  I  learned  also  of  that  other  great 
sorrow  which  came  to  our  family  in  the  passing  away  of  my  mother, 
I  again  turned  to  General  Dodge  for  sympathy,  and  found  him  as 
always,  ready  to  extend  heartfelt  friendship  and  condolence. 

Like  all  brave  and  truly  great  men,  he  has  a  warm  and  tender 
heart  upon  which  his  friends  may  rely  always  with  confidence. 

This  happy  gathering  of  Veterans  recalls  to  mind  vividly  the 

—48— 


great  victories  and  that  national  glory  won  by  the  Union  forces  dur- 
ing the  Civil  War;  those  heroes  of  the  army  who,  in  that  fearful 
strife,  by  their  sacrifices  and  valor,  secured  for  us  in  reality,  and 
in  fact,  what  our  ancestors  had  organized  in  theory,  namely,  a  land 
of  liberty  and  a  united  nation. 

Let  us  never  forget  that  to  you  heroes  of  the  Union  Armies  we 
owe  all  this  in  which  we  now  triumph. 

My  happiest  hours  are  those  passed  with  you,  General  Dodge, 
and  the  other  Comrades  of  my  father.  This  Association,  with  my 
name,  is  my  proudest  heritage. 

I  am  very  grateful  to  be  with  you  here,  and  thank  you  again  for 
your  kindness. 

LINCOLN   MONUMENT  DEDICATION. 

At  4  P.  M.  the  organizations,  headed  by  the  Council  Bluffs  band, 
and  escorted  by  the  Dodge  Light  Guards,  marched  to  Point  Look- 
out in  Lincoln  Park,  to  the  dedication  of  the  Lincoln  Monument. 
The  exercises  at  the  dedication  are  shown  in  the  following  program : 

Major  General  Grenville  M.  Dodge,  President  of  the  Lincoln 
Memorial  Association,  presiding. 

Music  by  the  Band. 

Prayer — Eev.  J.  M.  Williams,  a  relative  of  President  Lincoln. 

Description  of  the  Monument — Major-General  Grenville  M. 
Dodge. 

Unveiling  of  the  Monument — Master  Pusey  McGee,  grandson 
of  the  Hon.  W.  H.  M.  Pusey,  and  Miss  Marion  Southard,  daughter 
of  one  of  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution. 

The  band  played  "Star  Spangled  Banner"  at  the  unveiling. 

Presentation  of  the  Memorial  to  the  Park  Commission — Miss 
Harriet  R.  Lake  of  Independence,  Iowa,  Vice  President  General  of 
the  D.  A.  R.  for  Iowa. 

Acceptance  by  Andrew  Graham,  President  of  the  Park  Com- 
mission. 

Music  by  the  Band. 

Oration  by  Mr.  Emmett  Tinley  of  Council  Bluffs. 

Address — "My  Father's  and  President  A.  Lincoln's  First  Meet- 
ing," by  Major-General  Frederick  Dent  Grant. 

Benediction — Rev.  J.  M.  Williams. 

Music  by  the  band. 

—49— 


PUBLIC  EXERCISES. 

At  8  P.  M.,  the  Fourth  Iowa  Volunteer  Infantry,  Dodge's  Sec- 
ond Iowa  Battery  and  Dodge's  Band  marched  to  the  opera  house 
and  took  part  in  the  very  entertaining  exercises  and  eloquent  ad- 
dresses during  the  evening.    The  following  is  the  program : 

Prayer — Rev.  J.  M.  Williams. 

Song— "Lead  Kindly  Light/'  Elks'  Quartet. 

Welcome  to  the  State — Hon.  B.  F.  Carroll,  Governor. 

Welcome  to  the  City — Hon.  Thomas  Maloney,  Mayor. 

Song— "A  Bit  of  Heather/'  Elks'  Quartet. 

Response — For  the  Society  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  Iowa 
Commandery  of  the  M.  0.  L.  L.,  Fourth  Iowa  Veteran  Infantry, 
Dodge's  Second  Iowa  Battery,  Dodge's  Band,  by  Captain  J.  S. 
Lathrop,  Commander  Iowa  Commandery  Military  Order  of  the 
Loyal  Legion. 

Poem— "Battle  of  Atlanta,"  Major  S.  H.  M.  Byers.  (Written 
for  the  occasion.) 

Song— "The  Little  Red  Drum,"  Elks'  Quartet. 

Annual  Oration — General  Samuel  Fallows,  member  of  the  So- 
ciety of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee. 

Song — Selected,  Elks'  Quartet. 

Address — Major-General  Fred  D.  Grant,  U.  S.  A.,  Commander 
Military  Division  of  the  Atlantic. 

Song— "Soldier's  Farewell,"  Elks'  Quartet. 

BREAKFAST  WITH  CAPTAIN  REED. 

At  8  A.  M.  on  the  morning  of  October  11th,  the  Second  Iowa 
Battery  proceeded  to  the  residence  of  Captain  Joseph  R.  Reed, 
where  breakfast  was  served  to  all  the  members  of  the  battery  and 
their  families,  and  they  had  a  very  enjoyable  reunion.  The  view  of 
the  Mosquito  Valley  from  Captain  Reed's  residence  is  a  delightful 
one. 

SECOND  REUNION  MEETING. 

At  1 :30  P.  M.  the  Fourth  Iowa  Veteran  Infantry,  the  Battery 
and  the  Band  assembled  at  the  Neumayer  hotel  and  marched  to  the 
Elks'  Club  for  the  Second  reunion  meeting.  Major-General  Gren- 
ville  M.  Dodge  presided.  He  read  the  following  letters  from  veter- 
ans who  were  unable  to  attend  the  reunion : 

—50— 


Columbus,  Ohio,  October  7,  1911. 
Major-General  Grenville  M.  Dodge,  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa. 

My  Dear  and  Honored  Comrade  :  It  is  a  matter  of  deep  re- 
gret to  me  that  business  duties  are  such  as  render  it  impossible  for 
me  to  attend  the  Eeunion  of  my  old  Regiment,  the  Fourth  Iowa,  on 
the  10th  and  11th  inst.  I  am  the  more  disappointed  for  the  rea- 
son the  Regiment  probably  may  never  again  attempt  another  Re- 
union. Our  ranks  are  thin,  and  being  thinned  so  that  when  a  very 
few  years  shall  have  come  we  will  all  have  passed  to  the  great  camp- 
ing ground  beyond. 

It  does  not  seem  possible  that  fifty  years  have  passed  since  the 
Regiment  answered  the  country's  call  to  arms,  or  that  forty-six 
years  have  gone  since  our  discharge  at  Davenport,  Iowa.  I  remem- 
ber with  a  sense  of  great  pleasure  and  pride  this  fine  old  Regiment, 
when  on  dress  parade  or  drawn  up  in  line  of  battle  or  march,  with 
its  long  line  of  brave  and  brawny  men,  with  flashing  guns  and 
gleaming  bayonets,  or  covered  with  the  dust  of  the  march,  or  the 
grime  and  smoke  of  the  battle.  I  can  see  now  in  my  mind's  eye  the 
gallant  officers  of  the  companies — the  line — and  those  who  rode 
at  the  head  of  the  Regiment.  I  can  see  the  long  lines  of  little 
white  dog  tents  when  we  went  into  camp  and  can  hear  the  roar  of 
the  musketry  and  the  booming  of  the  big  guns  when  we  went  into 
battle.  I  am  proud  to  know  that  I  had  the  honor  of  being  a  member 
of  the  Fourth  Iowa  Veteran  Volunteer  Infantry.  This  fine  old 
Regiment  showed  its  valor  on  many  a  bloody  field,  but  never,  never 
on  any  field  showed  its  back  to  the  enemy. 

I  have  little  to  say  of  myself.  I  was  a  conny — a  veteran  recruit 
— having  enlisted  at  Calrinda,  in  March,  1864,  when  the  Veterans 
were  home  on  veteran  furlough.  I  enlisted  under  Captain  A.  R.  An- 
derson, Commander  of  Company  K,  and  took  my  place  as  a  little 
runt,  not  sixteen  yet,  in  the  rear  rank  and  at  the  foot  of  the  column. 
Young  as  I  was  and  little  as  I  was,  I  endeavored  to  do  my  full  duty 
at  that  end  of  the  line. 

I  do  not  know  how  well  the  boys  may  remember  me;  perhaps 
not  many  of  them  recall  me,  for  I  was  rather  an  obscure  private. 
But  I  was  there  at  the  rear  in  Company  K  and  always  counted  for 
one.  I  was  little,  but  I  was  one.  I  recall  the  names  of  some  of  the 
men  in  Company  K,  who  were  specially  good  to  me,  and  whom  T 
shall  never  forget,  viz :  Major  Anderson,  Lieutenant  Harv  Anderson, 
Orderly  Sergeant  A.  D.  King,  or  "Squat,"  as  we  familiarly  called 
him,  then  Bill  Cozad,  Irad  Richardson,  Ambrose  Cobb,  the  two 
Wilkinsons,  the  two  Cunnings,  Captain  Crisp,  who  was  always 
rather  "Crisp",  but  a  brave  soldier,  and  who  always  was  (rood  to  me, 
also  Ad  Starr,  my  good  friend  of  Company  H.  I  remember  well 
our  first  Colonel,  though  I  never  saw  him  ai  the  head  of  the  Regi- 
ment, the  gallant  and  brave  General  Dodge,  but  as  Major-General 
in  command  of  the  Sixteenth  Army  Corps,  saw  him  many  times  in 

—51— 


the  Atlanta  Campaign.     We  were  always  proud  of  him  and  never 
failed  to  cheer  him  when  he  would  pass  the  old  Fourth. 

When  sent  to  the  front,  I  joined  the  non-veteran  portion  of  the 
Regiment  at  Woodville,  Alabama.  When  the  veterans  came  back 
we  joined  them  at  Bridgeport,  Tennessee.  We  then  lay  in  camp  in 
and  about  Chattanooga  until  May  6th,  I  think  it  was,  when  in  the 
early  morning  amidst  the  singing  of  birds,  the  shrill  note  of  fifes 
and  the  roll  of  drums,  we  took  up  the  line  of  March  over  the  heights 
of  Mission  Eidge  and  the  great  Atalnta  Campaign  began.  My 
soldier  life  embraced  the  Atlanta  Campaign,  the  raid  after  Hood, 
the  march  to  the  sea,  and  the  campaign  through  the  Carolina*, 
ending  with  the  Grand  Eeview  at  Washington. 

Possibly  Sergeant  King  may  remember  a  little  incident  in  con- 
nection with  myself,  the  first  day  out  from  Atlanta  in  pursuit  of 
Hood.  We  were  in  camp  at  East  Point,  South  of  Atlanta.  I  was 
on  picket  duty  that  night.  The  troops  broke  camp  in  the  morning, 
and  the  pickets  were  not  relieved  till  about  10  o'clock.  I  did  not 
catch  up  with  the  Regiment  until  it  had  crossed  the  Chattahoochee, 
some  twelve  miles  out  from  Atlanta.  It  was  late  in  the  afternoon 
and  we  marched  and  marched  through  the  deep  pine  forests  till  2 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  before  finally  going  into  camp. 

When  "Squat,"  the  Orderly  Sergeant,  made  the  call  for  some- 
one for  picket  duty,  it  was  found  that  I  was  the  only  private  soldier 
who  had  come  into  camp  with  the  Company.  All  had  dropped  out 
by  the  way.  I  had  just  come  off  picket  duty  the  night  before, 
and  what  to  do  they  did  not  know.  Major  Anderson,  who  was  in 
command  of  the  Regiment,  was  sent  for.  I  was  asked  if  I  would 
go  on  picket  duty  again  out  of  my  turn.  I  replied,  "Certainly,  I 
am  here  for  duty."  The  Major  said :  "Alright,  Arbuckle,  I  will  see 
that  you  are  taken  care  of  for  this."  And  so  I  was,  for  I  was  not 
again  placed  on  picket  duty  until  we  returned  from  this  raid  and 
went  into  camp  at  Vining's  Station  preparatory  to  the  march  to  the 
sea. 

It  is  hard  for  me  to  be  reconciled  to  my  personal  loss  in  being 
prevented  from  enjoying  this  Reunion  with  my  old  Comrades  of  the 
Gallant  Fourth  Iowa. 

I  bear  them  all  my  heartiest  greetings,  and  my  sincerest  good 
speed  and  God  speed. 

With  three  cheers  for  the  Splendid,  Glorious  Old  Fourth,  I  re- 
main your  affectionate  Comrade  of  Company  K, 

John  Arbuckle. 

P.  S. — The  letter  "C"  does  not  properly  belong  in  my  name. 
It  was  simply  plain  John  then,  and  it  is  just  plain  John  vet. 


-52— 


Steyensville,  Mont.,  October  5,  1911. 
Dear  Comkades  of  the  Fourth  Iowa  Infantry  : 

How  I  would  like  to  be  with  you  at  your  grand  gathering  on  the 
10th  and  11th !  There  is  no  possible  chance  for  such  a  meeting  to 
ever  take  place  again.  I  had  hoped  to  be  with  you  up  to  the  preesnt, 
when  a  combination  of  circumstances  have  decreed  that  1  shall  not 
be  with  you  in  person,  but  nothing  but  death  can  keep  me  from 
being  there  in  spirit. 

Boys,  you  all  know  the  Fourth  Iowa  never  was  called  on  for  any 
duty  and  failed  to  respond  with  a  will.  Look  back  over  our  Regi- 
mental history  and  see  how  well  we  filled  our  place. 

Well,  I  wanted  to  see  my  ideal  soldier,  G-.  M.  Dodge,  take  him  by 
the  hand  and  thank  him  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart  for  the  train- 
ing he  gave  us — starting  us  right.  Boys,  tell  him  now  in  his  old  age, 
for  I  believe  you  all  see  it  as  I  do,  it  will  make  a  bright  spot  in  his 
old  age  to  know  how  we  feel  about  it.  I  have  always  felt  that  our 
success  as  a  Eegiment  was  in  a  great  measure  due  to  the  lessons  we 
received  from  our  Colonel  G.  M.  Dodge. 

I  am  glad  to  tell  you  I  am  still  alive — work  every  day.  If  any  of 
you  should  ever  wander  over  this  way  do  not  fail  to  inquire  at 
Stevensville  for  Pinecrest,  any  school  boy  can  tell  you  where  it  is — 
or  better,  step  into  the  telephone  exchange ;  I  can't  hear  but  there  is 
always  some  in  the  mess  that  can — and  in  thirty  minutes  1  will  have 
you  on  the  way  to  Pinecrest  Roses  are  still  in  bloom  ou  the  lawn. 
The  Commissary  is  always  well  supplied  and  our  mess  never  goes 
on  short  rations. 

Bitter  Root  Valley.  Snow  just  up  there  on  top  all  the  year, 
and  no  end  to  flowers,  fruit  and  vegetables  down  here  in  the  valley, 
and  the  clear,  sparkling  cool  water  and  pure  air,  with  cool  nights  all 
summer.  I  met  a  man  today  as  I  came  from  town,  riding  one 
horse,  leading  another  with  a  great  big  deer  with  many  pronged  an- 
tlers strapped  on  his  back,  and  the  streams  are  full  of  fine  trout. 
Xow,  don't  you  think  you  could  spend  a  few  days  pleasantly  >vith 
J.  B.  T.  at  Pinecrest  ?  Enclosed  find  Pinecrest  Headquarters.  May 
God  bless  every  living  member  of  the  Fourth  Iowa. 

Joseph  B.  Townsend. 


Knoxville,  Iowa,  October  9,  1911. 
General  G.  M.  Dodge,  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa. 

My  Dear  General:  I  have  been  looking  forward  to  this  week 
with  the  hope  that  I  would  be  able  to  attend  the  Reunion  of  the 
Fourth  Iowa  Infantry  and  the  meeting  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennes- 
see, but  I  find  myself  unable  to  do  so  and  will  have  to  forego  the 
anticipated  pleasure.  My  health  is  not  such  as  to  permit  me  to 
leave  home.  I  have  recently  experienced  two  severe  attacks  of  renal 
colic,  and  I  am  not  sufficiently  recovered  from  its  effects  to  allow  me 

—53  — 


to  leave  my  home.  Please  convey  to  all  of  the  old  boys  of  the  Fourth 
my  sincere  regards  and  best  wishes.  I  am  very  glad  that  I  was  a 
member  of  the  Fourth  Iowa  Infantry  and  take  great  pride  in  the 
record  the  Eegiment  made  during  the  war.  For  myself,  I  want  to 
assure  you  that  I  have  watched  your  course  with  pleasure  and  shall 
ever  remember  with  pride  that  it  was  my  lot  to  discharge  the  duty  I 
owed  to  my  country  under  you  as  my  commanding  Colonel.  Hoping 
that  you  may  all  have  a  pleasant  and  enjoyable  meeting,  and  with 
love  and  respect  for  all,  I  am, 

Truly  and  sincerely  yours, 

James  D.  Gamble, 

Lt.  Co.  D.,  Fourth  Iowa. 

ADDRESS  BY  GENERAL  NOBLE. 

After  reading  the  above  letters,  General  Dodge  then  introduced 
Brigadier  General  John  W.  Noble,  late  Secretary  of  the  Interior, 
and  Colonel  of  the  Third  Iowa  Cavalry.  At  the  Battle  of  Pea  Ridge, 
General  Noble  was  a  Lieutenant  in  the  Third  Cavalry,  taking  part 
in  the  fight  at  Leetown.   General  Noble  made  the  following  address : 

General  Dodge,  Fellow  Members  of  the  Society  of  the  Army  of  the 
Tennessee,  Companions  of  the  Loyal  Legion,  Comrades  of  the 
Fourth  Iov;a  Infantry  and  Second  Iowa  Battery,  and  All  Com- 
rades and  Fellow  Citizens: 

Among  "fellow  citizens"  are  to  be  included  always  our  women 
who  do  their  full  share  of  the  duties  of  these  celebrations,  in  times  of 
peace,  as  they  also  bore  the  trials  and  sufferings  of  those  days  of  war 
half  a  century  ago.  It  is  a  fine  feature  of  these  Reunions  now 
being  held,  that  so  many  of  them  are  present  and  among  the  most 
interested  and  helpful. 

It  is  to  me  a  personal  pleasure  to  join  with  you  in  these  two 
days  of  semi-centenial  celebration,  and  bear  whatever  testimony  ] 
may  to  the  work  and  worth  of  those  who  went  forth  to  its  defense 
at  our  country's  call.  The  record  has  been  made  up  now  for  almost 
the  entire  life  of  everyone  of  us,  and  we  are  able  to  recognize  that 
that  successful  service  has  culminated  in  a  prosperity  and  power  for 
our  country,  enobling  all  who  upheld  the  Constitution  and  the 
Flag,  whether  upon  the  open  field  of  battle  or  amid  the  anxiety  and 
sacrifices  at  home. 

In  the  soberness  of  a  great  joy  we  may  thank  God,  that  amid 
states  not  only  united,  but  largely  increased  in  number,  at  peace 
with  all  the  world,  and  enjoying  liberty  and  strength  in  a  high  and 

—54— 


ever  increasing  degree  we  have  been  allowed  to  behold  the  Fiftieth 
Anniversary  of  the  immediate  rally  and  muster  of  the  forces  of  the 
Nation  for  its  defense,  and  to  recall  the  days  we  aided  to  maintain 
the  Government  our  fathers  established. 

To  me  now  in  a  few  days,  on  my  eightieth  year,  who  was  then 
your  Comrade,  a  young  soldier,  a  Lieutenant,  this  Eeunion  gives 
unspeakable  pleasure.  Let  fate  do  its  worst,  the  memories  of  the 
past  remain. 

Our  meeting,  in  this  hall,  yesterday  was  given  up  largely  to  the 
history  of  the  Battle  of  Pea  Ridge,  as  it  was  fought  March  7th  and 
8th,  1862,  on  the  field  at  Elkhorn  Tavern.  The  recitals  made 
were  most  interesting;  but  only  intensified  our  appreciation  of  the 
heroism,  on  that  day  and  the  next,  of  him  whom  a  kind  providence 
has  granted  should  preside  over  us  today.  General  Dodge,  I,  a 
Lieutenant  then  unknown  to  you,  knew  you  at  Pea  Eidge  before  the 
battle,  and  in  the  battle ;  and  it  has  been  my  great  good  fortune  to 
know  you  all  the  years  since  in  your  inestimable  service  in  the 
Union  Army,  in  the  survey  and  construction  of  the  Union  Pacific 
railroad,  in  the  walks  of  civic  life;  and  to  have  had  many  of  your 
friends  for  my  friends,  and  I  am  glad  to  bring  my  tribute  of  laurel 
for  your  brow  on  this  most  propitious  assembly  of  our  Comrades, 
your  old  soldiers. 

As  I  am  now  to  speak  by  the  record  and  somewhat  upon  my  per- 
sonal reminiscences,  allow  me  to  correct  the  program  where  I  am 
named  John  C.  Noble.  That  "C"  belongs  to  our  Comrade,  John  C. 
Black,  whom,  they  say,  I  resemble  so  much  in  personal  appearance 
that  I  am  anxious  he  shall  suffer  no  further  damage  by  an  identity 
in  our  given  names.  My  name  is  John  Willock  Noble — born  in 
Lancaster,  Ohio,  the  same  place  so  greatly  honored  as  the  birth 
place  of  General  William  Tecumseh  Sherman. 

On  the  7th  of  March  there  were  two  general  engagements  be- 
tween the  two  wings  of  Gentral  Curtis'  Army  and  the  two  wings  of 
the  Army  of  Generals  Van  Dom  and  Price ;  that  at  Elkhorn  on  the 
7th,  was  described  yesterday;  that  at  Leetown,  some  two  and  a  half 
miles  away,  I  will  endeavor  to  outline,  for,  of  course,  no  more  can 
be  attempted  in  the  short  time  circumstances  allow  me  here. 

As  General  Dodge  has  told  you,  on  the  6th  of  March,  he  notified 
General  Curtis  that  he  had  information  the  enemy  was  moving  to 
outflank  us  and  get  to  our  rear ;  and  that  General  Curtis  thereupon 
required  Dodge,  Colonel,  as  he  then  was,  to  take  a  detail  to  obstruct 
the  road  the  enemy  would  have  to  travel.    He  was  given  such  from 

—55— 


my  Regiment,  the  Third  Iowa  Cavalry.  The  Captain,  0.  H.  P.  Scott, 
had  been  a  railroad  builder,  and  rather  liked  a  duty  of  supervising 
the  cutting  down  of  the  great  trees  by  his  men.  This,  Company  B 
did,  with  efficiency  and  dispatch.  General  Dodge  mentions  in  a  pa- 
per, on  this  battle,  that  the  detail  was  out  of  the  Third  Illinois 
Cavalry.  I  think  that  was  on  our  then  left  flank ;  but  the  work  on 
the  night  of  the  6th,  in  rear  of  our  right  flank  (as  we  were  then 
facing  south)  was,  as  I  have  stated.  Indeed,  our  Cavalry  boys  of 
Company  B  never  quite  forgave  their  Captain,  although  afterwards 
Major,  for  making  them  chop  wood  that  night.  But  it  proved  of 
immense  service;  for  in  the  night  (after  the  trees  were  down)  the 
troops  of  McCulloch  and  Mcintosh  became  so  confused  in  this 
tangle  of  felled  trees  and  in  the  darkness  that  instead  of  being  in 
position  on  our  rear  at  break  of  day,  as  was  intended,  they  did  not 
arrive  until  after  our  Generals  saw  their  exact  movements  and 
precipitated  a  portion  of  our  forces  upon  them,  halted  them  and 
brought  on  the  engagement  at.  Leetown.  These  impediments  also 
delayed  the  column  of  other  troops  under  Van  Dorn,  so  that  he 
also  arrived  much  later  than  planned  at  the  back  door  of  our  army, 
which  he  expected  "to  close  and  catch  us  alive,"  but  there  found 
General  Carr  with  Colonel  Dodge,  with  you  men  of  the  Fourth 
Iowa  Infantry  and  the  Second  Iowa  Battery,  and  Colonel  Yandever 
with  the  Mnth  Iowa  Infantry  and  Colonel  Phelps  with  his  Regi- 
ment, with,  as  it  were,  your  foot  between  the  door  and  the  jamb, 
so  it  could  not  be  shut  at  all;  and  was  more  likely  to  catch  the 
enemy  than  the  Union  soldiers. 

These  two  wings  of  Van  Dorn's  army  were  composed  each  of 
different  kinds  of  troops  in  this :  that  those  at  Leetown  under  Mc- 
Culloch belonged  to  strictly  the  Army  of  the  Confederacy,  while 
those  under  Price  belonged  more  to  Missouri,  which  had  not  yet 
and  never  did  go  out  of  the  Union.  So  that  there  was  this  separa- 
tion in  the  Southern  Army  itself  at  Pea  Ridge.  The  very  principle 
of  "secession,"  and  the  right  of  each  State  to  direct  its  own  affairs 
to  suit  itself,  was  working  its  dire  result  to  its  supporters.  "The 
engineer  was  hoist  by  his  own  petard."  Mr.  Sneed  in  his  book 
styled,  "The  Fight  for  Missouri,"  states  that  General  Price  was 
the  acknowledged  leader  and  exponent  of  the  Missouri  troops  in 
the  Southern  Army;  and  that  he  had  endeavored  in  June,  1861, 
at  St.  Louis,  to  negotiate  an  agreement  with  General  Lyon  so  Lyon 
would  keep  United  States  troops  out  of  Missouri;  and  he,  Price, 
and  Governor  Claiborne  Jackson  would  preserve  the  peace  in  Mis- 

—56— 


souri;   but  which   conference   General   Lyon   had   broken   up   and 
ended  with  these  memorable  words: 

Eather  than  concede  to  the  State  of  Missouri  the  right  to  demand 
that  my  government  shall  not  enlist  troops  within  her  limits,  or 
bring  troops  into  the  State  whenever  it  pleases,  or  move  its  own 
troops  at  its  own  will  into,  out  of,  or  through  the  State  *  *  * 
I  would  (rising  as  he  said  this  and  pointing  in  turn  to  everyone  in 
the  room)  see  you,  and  you,  and  you,  and  you,  and  you,  and  every 
man,  woman  and  child  in  the  State,  dead  and  buried.  Then  turn- 
ing to  the  Governor,  he  said,  "This  means  war.  In  an  hour  one  of 
my  officers  will  call  for  you  and  conduct  you  out  of  my  lines/'  And 
then,  without  another  word,  without  an  inclination  of  the  head, 
without  even  a  look,  he  turned  upon  his  heel,  and  strode  out  of  the 
room,  rattling  his  spurs  and  clanking  his  sabre. 

General  Price  was  well  warned,  and  although  Lyon  fell  at 
Wilson  Creek,  it  was,  at  best  for  the  South,  a  drawn  battle.  Price 
lost  at  Pea  Ridge  and  finally  and  forever  at  Independence,  Big  Blue 
and  Little  Osage. 

The  separation  of  the  Southern  troops  at  Pea  Ridge  was  com- 
plete. The  Secretary  of  War  of  the  Confederacy  had  written 
General  McCulloch,  as  Missouri  was  still  in  the  Union,  "to  exercise 
much  prudence  and  circumspection,  and  it  should  be  only  when  ne- 
cessity and  propriety  unite  that  active  and  direct  assistance  should 
be  afforded  by  crossing  the  boundary  and  entering  the  State."  And 
Mr.  Speed,  a  Southern  officer,  does  not  hesitate  to  say  in  the  book 
already  mentioned,  that  General  McCulloch  "had,  in  truth,  no  con- 
fidence in  the  Missouri  troops  and  none  in  General  Price,  or  in  any 
of  his  officers,  except  Colonel  Weightman." 

A  mere  glance  at  the  list  of  troops,  their  states  and  general  align- 
ment in  the  commands  likewise  shows  this  line  of  cleavage  between 
Missouri  volunteers  and  Confederate  regulars.  The  forces  under 
Major-General  Van  Dorn  were  composed  of  Missouri  State  Guard 
under  General  Sterling  Price,  and  of  these  were  the  Con  federate 
Volunteers;  also  General  Martin  E.  Green's  State  troops;  also 
Colonel  John  B.  Clark's  Division  and  that  of  Colonel  Saunders, 
Major  Lindsey's;  Brigadier-General  D.  M.  Frost's  Divisions; 
Raines'  Division,  Bledsoe's  Battery  and  Shelby's  Cavalry.  But  the 
other  wing;  commanded  by  Brigadier-General  Ben  McCulloch  (after- 
wards by  Colonel  E.  Greer)  was  composed  of  five  regiments  of 
Arkansas  troops;  Hebert's  Infantry  and  those  of  Louisana  ;  the  com- 
mand of  Brigadier-General  James  Mcintosh,  which  included  two 
more   Arkansas   regiments,   and    four   Texas    regiments,   and    four 

—57— 


batteries ;  and  let  it  be  noted  here,  never  to  be  forgotten,  Pike's  com- 
mand, under  Brigadier-General  Albert  Pike,  composed  of  a  Chero- 
kee regiment,  Colonel  Stand  Waite;  another  Cherokee  regiment, 
under  Colonel  D.  N.  Mcintosh,  and  Welsh's  Cavalry.  These  last 
mentioned  regiments  (not  the  cavalry)  were  Indians.  They  were  ve- 
neered, to  a  small  extent,  with  civilization,  but  who  in  this  Battle 
of  Pea  Eidge  murdered  and  scalped  the  wounded  and  dead  Soldiers 
they  were  able  here  and  there  to  overcome,  with  all  the 
fierceness  and  outrageous  brutality  of  those  "merciless  savages"  our 
American  Declaration  of  Independence  charges  it  as  crime  against 
King  George  to  have  endeavored  to  bring  on  the  inhabitants  of  the 
American  frontiers. 

Many  of  these  Indians  were  slave  owners  in  the  Indian  Territory, 
and  for  their  violation  of  their  treaties  the  United  States  afterwards 
not  only  freed  their  slaves  but  compelled  them  to  share  with  their 
former  slaves  the  bounties  the  Nation  had  bestowed  in  former  years. 

Albert  Pike,  he  who  led  these  Indians,  was  a  son  of  New  Eng- 
land, born  in  Boston,  Massachusetts ;  a  poet  who  published  a  volume 
of  verse  on  sunsets  and  flowers,  and  woman's  love,  and  wrote  a  book 
in  defense  of  secession,  styled  "State  or  Province,  Bond  or  Free"; 
and  grew  wealthy  before  the  war  on,  fees  for  his  services  to  these 
Indians,  in  their  negotiations  and  "pow-wows"  at  Washington.  And 
yet !  and  yet !  he  was  here  in  command  of  this  merciless  horde.  Let 
each  man  make  his  own  comment. 

In  this  battle  many  men  of  my  regiment  were  wounded  or  killed 
on  the  field  at  Leetown,  which  was  afterwards  recovered  by  us  in  the 
fight,  and  while  the  Indians  were  there  they  scalped  eight  or  nine 
men  of  this  regiment,  whose  names  can  be  found  in  the  records  of 
the  State  of  Iowa  and  in  those  of  the  United  States,'  where  are  the 
reports  of  the  Battle  of  Pea  Eidge. 

Eecurring  to  the  statement  that  the  two  wings  of  the  Confed- 
erate Army  were  composed  of  forces  that  were  in  fact  not  only 
separated  on  the  field  but  were  not  acting  in  harmony,  we  find,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  Union  Army  united  in  spirit,  in  purpose  and 
under  one  commander,  General  Samuel  E.  Curtis.  It  was  named 
"The  Army  of  the  Southwest."  The  troops  were  drawn  from 
•Missouri,  Illinois,  Iowa,  Indiana  and  Ohio.  They  were  in  four 
divisions;  the  First  under  Colonel  Osterhaus;  the  Second  under 
General  Asboth,  which  two  divisions  were  under  immediate  com- 
mand of  General  Franz  Sigel;  then  came  the  Third  Division,  com- 
manded by  Colonel  Jefferson  C.  Davis,  having  an  Indiana  Brigade 

—58— 


and  an  Illinois  Brigade,  and  the  First  Missouri  Cavalry;  while  the 
Fourth  Division  was  commanded  by  Colonel  Eugene  A.  Carr,  and 
was  composed  of  Iowa  and  Illinois  troops  in  one  brigade  under 
Colonel  G.  M.  Dodge  of  the  Fourth  Iowa,  and  in  the  other  were 
Iowa  and  Missouri  troops,  under  Colonel  Vandever  of  the  Ninth 
Iowa.  The  Third  Iowa  Cavalry  (five  companies)  having  arrived 
but  a  day  or  two  before,  had  not  been  assigned  to  any  division,  and 
in  the  battle  was  in  a  brigade  formed  on  the  emergency  and  put 
under  Colonel  Cyrus  Bussey,  to  whom  I  was  Adjutant.  This  bri- 
gade at  Leetown  operated  under  command  of  Colonel  Osterhaus. 

Both  wings  of  the  Union  Army,  that  at  Elkhorn  and  that  at 
Leetown,  were  under  the  absolute  and  single  command  of  General 
Curtis;  and  the  troops  not  only  had  confidence  in  him  but  he  and 
all  the  officers  under  him  had  confidence  in  them  and  in  each  other. 

From  the  officers'  reports  it  appears  that  there  were  at  this 
battle  in  the  Confederate  Army  16,202  infantry,  cavalry,  artillery 
and  Indians.  There  were  eight  batteries  in  Price's  command  and 
eighteen  cannon  in  McCulloch's.  The  Indians  and  others  in  Pike's 
command  amounted  to  about  a  thousand. 

The  Union  Army  did  not  exceed  10,500  infantry  and  cavalry, 
with  forty-nine  pieces  of  artillery. 

When  General  Sigel  retired  from  Bentonville  on  March  6th  he 
succeeded,  with  some  fighting,  in  reaching  the  Union  line,  which 
was  then  facing  south  at  Sugar  Creek,  and  where  in  line  were 
Asboth  on  the  right,  Osterhaus  next,  Davis  next,  and  Carr  on  the 
left.  The  Third  Iowa  Cavalry  was  encamped  in  rear  of  the  main 
line. 

When  the  enemy  was  found,  on  the  morning  of  the  7th,  march- 
ing to  our  rear,  as  already  mentioned,  Colonel  Osterhaus  was  sent 
by  General  Curtis  to  Leetown  with  instructions  to  strike  the  enemy 
and  stop  his  progress,  at  all  hazards.  Osterhaus  started  immedi- 
ately, taking  with  him  the  cavalry  brigade  under  Colonel  Bussey 
and  Ebert's  Battery  (two  guns).  The  other  troops  of  Osterhaus 
were  to  follow  as  rapidly  as  possible.  The  division  of  Colonel 
Davis  was  to  advance  in  the  same  direction.  Colonel  Carr  took 
his  (the  Fourth)  division  to  the  immediate  rear  towards  the 
enemy,  up  the  telegraph  road  to  Elkhorn  Tavern  and  beyond;  and 
General  Sigel  remained  for  the  while  to  protect  the  line  of  Sugar 
Creek. 

The  cavalry  of  those  days  was  but  poorly  armed,  for  the  most 
part  with  pistols  and  sabres  only;  but  they  gallantly  charged  the 

—59— 


enemy's  infantry,  that  had  been  thrown  into  line  near  Leetown 
to  meet  them,  and  lost  heavily.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Trimble  was 
wounded  in  the  head  and  many  men  and  horses  of  the  Third  Iowa 
Cavalry  were  killed  or  wounded.  .  The  two  guns  with  Osterhaus 
had Jired  but  few  shots  when  the  whole  line  of  cavalry  under  Mc- 
intosh charged,  led  by  Texas  regiments  and  followed  by  the  Chero- 
kee Indians  under  Stand  Waite  and  John  Drew,  commanded  by 
General  Albert  Pike.  Our  guns  were  captured,  but  not  the  caissons, 
and  the  Indians,  it  is  said,  fell  into  confusion  in  a  riot  of  glee, 
disregarded  all  orders  (Pike's  Eeport,  p.  288)  and,  putting  on 
horse-collars  and  trace-chains  for  ornament,  had  a  short  barbaric 
triumph,  soon,  however,  silenced  and  followed  by  their  flight  from 
the  field  as  our  other  troops  came  on.  These  advancing  troops  were 
those  of  Osterhaus  and  the  division  of  Colonel  Jefferson  C.  Davis. 
The  conflict  now  involved  the  whole  lines  of  both  armies  at  Lee- 
town— of  McCulloch  and  of  Osterhaus  and  Davis.  The  roar  and 
crash  of  arms  was  continuous  and  the  loss  on  either  side  was  great. 
Our  comrade,  Colonel  Wells  Blodgett,  wrhom  many  of  you  know, 
has  told  me  he  was  with  the  advance  of  Colonel  Davis  in  the  Thirty- 
seventh  Illinois  Infantry,  and  that  a  portion  of  his  regiment  was 
armed  with  revolving  rifles ;  that  they  mistook  at  first  the  enemy  for 
some  of  our  own  troops  until  within  short  range ;  but  when  the 
boys  found  out  their  mistake  they  turned  on  the  steam  and  "let  her 
go,  Gallagher."  These  rifles,  with  the  successive  volleys  of  the 
other  regiments,  and  the  immense  bass  of  the  cannon,  were  the 
cause  of  the  stupendous  and  incessant  roar.  It  was  cyclonic.  It 
ended  the  Leetown  part  of  the  battle.  An  Indiana  regiment,  near 
the  edge  of  the  woods,  displayed  the  "Stars  and  Stripes"  on  high,  in 
the  very  open,  and  it  was  unassailed.  The  cheers  of  the  Union 
troops  now  rang  out  clear  and  loud,  and  there  was  no  reply.  The 
enemy  had  fled.  General  McCulloch  had  been  killed,  as  had  also 
General  Mcintosh;  and  the  dead  of  the  enemy  strewed  the  field. 
Those  of  them  left  fled  to  take  no  part  even  in  the  Battle  of  Elkhorn, 
which  had  been  in  progress,  as  told  so  clearly  and  accurately  by 
General  Dodge  and  the  other  speakers  yesterday. 

The  distance  between  the  two  fields  was  about  two  miles,  and 
so  completely  separated  that  Colonel  Hebert  (a  Confederate),  hav- 
ing become  separated  from  his  command  at  Leetown,  was  picked  up 
and  captured  by  a  Union  Cavalry  detail  comiDg  over  from  Elkhorn. 

The  next  day,  the  8th,  I  was  with  my  regiment  on  the  field  at 
Elkhorn  and  saw  that  battle,  while  acting  as  a  temporary  aide  to 

—60 — 


General  Curtis,  my  regiment  being  near  at  hand  guarding  the  right 
flank,  but  did  not  become  engaged  until,  when  the  enemy  retreated 
along  the  whole  line,  the  cavalry  were  sent  in  pursuit. 

The  gallant  Fourth  Iowa  renewed  its  heroic  work  on  the  8th. 
Colonel  Dodge  was  wounded,  and  the  brigade  and  division  in  those 
two  days  established  forever  its  great  renown.  To  rehearse  those 
achievements  is  now  unnecessary,  for  it  has  been  far  better  done  by 
General  Dodge.  The  losses  in  the  series  of  conflicts  at  Pea  Ridge 
were,  for  the  Confederates  (estimated),  at  least  1,000  killed  and 
wounded  and  300  prisoners;  for  the  Union  Army,  203  killed,  980 
wounded  and  201  missing;  total,  1,384. 

Before  I  close  let  me  say  one  word  more  for  our  Commanding 
General  at  Pea  Ridge,  Samuel  R.  Curtis.  We  dwelt  together  at 
Keokuk,  Iowa,  before  the  war.  He  was  then  a  dis- 
tinguished engineer,  having  greatly  improved  the  harbor  at  St. 
Louis,  Missouri,  and  done  much  work  elsewhere  in  the  West.  He 
had  been  in  the  Mexican  War.  He  was  a  member  of  Congress 
when  the  war  broke  out,  and  he  voluntarily  inarched  with  the  first 
troops  that  reached  Washington,  down  to  the  White  House,  to  bring 
relief  to  the  anxious  heart  of  our  President.  His  generalship  at 
Pea  Ridge  displayed  qualities  of  the  highest  order.  He  was  self- 
poised  amid  the  changes  needed  to  meet  the  rapid  and  dangerous 
movements  of  the  enemy.  He  was  aggressive  against  a  foe  that 
had  expected  to  put  him  solely  on  the  defensive.  His  tactics  and 
new  deployments  on  the  field  foiled  and  defeated  the  long-studied 
and  cunningly-planned  strategy  of  General  Van  Dorn,  and  he  fought 
on  the  7th  substantially  two  battles  against  superior  numbers  on 
either  field.  He  came  out  triumphant  and  pursued  the  disorgan- 
ized forces  of  the  whole  Confederate  Army  on  the  8th.  "He  was 
steadfast  amid  alarms."  Let  me  narrate  shortly  an  incident  to 
show  this,  which  occurred  on  the  night  of  the  7th.  The  Leetown 
fight  was  won  and  I  had  reported  by  order  to  General  Asboth  for 
orders  for  the  next  day  for  the  cavalry  to  which  I  belonged.  Gen- 
eral Asboth  rode  with  me  to  General  Curtis  near  midnight,  we 
seeking  his  headquarters  in  the  darkness.  When  we  found  the 
General  he  was  dressed,  but  lying  on  a  straw  bed,  and  when  General 
Asboth  told  him,  whatever  it  was  he  had  to  communicate,  Genera  1 
Curtis  said :  "I  have  ordered  Sigel  over  from  Leetown.  He  has 
to  come  around  Little  Mountain,  and  if  the  enemy  sees  or  hears 
him  they  may  attack.  I  would  not  be  surprised  to  hear  the  guns 
at  any  moment.     But  he  will  get  here,  and  in  the  morning  I  will 

—61 — 


attack  at  Elkhorn  Tavern  and  will  whip  the  rebels  there ;  and  when 
I  whip  them  there  I  whip  them  everywhere/'  He  then  said  to  me 
to  take  my  orders  from  General  Asboth,  and  bade  us  good-night. 

General  Curtis,  with  the  undisturbed  insight  of  a  great  com- 
mander, could  see,  as  we  say,  "over  the  hill."  Sigel  got  there. 
General  Curtis  attacked  in  the  morning  at  Elkhorn.  He  whipped 
them  there — and  when  he  whipped  them  there  "he  whipped  them 
everywhere."  He  was  a  Christian  man  of  genial  nature,  but  to  the 
discharge  of  duty  he  brought  great  brain  force,  great  sagacity,  and 
he  was  fearless.  In  the  'last  edition  of  the  Encyclopaedia  Brit- 
tanica,  an  authority,  of  course,  of  the  highest  order,  he  is  said  at 
the  Battle  of  Pea  Eidge  to  have  evinced  "a  magnificent  tenacity/' 

He  was  a  man  of  very  simple  manners,  almost  as  plain  in  his 
directness  as  our  General  Dodge,  who  has  been  taking  care  of  us 
here  for  these  two  days.  What  a  cheering  fact  it  is  that  simple 
manners  and  kind  disposition  are  allied  to  greatness.  Let  me  tell  you 
before  I  sit  down,  in  the  presence  of  General  Frederick  D.  Grant, 
who  has  honored  us  by  his  presence  and  participation  in  our  meet- 
ings, of  an  action  of  his  father,  General  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  displaying 
this  feature  of  his  great  character.  It  happened  that  after  the 
surrender  of  Yicksburg  and  we  had  driven  off  Johnson  from  Jack- 
son, a  detachment  of  my  regiment,  which  I  commanded  as  Major, 
had  made  a  raid  with  other  troops  to  Memphis,  and  my  little  com- 
mand was  returning  by  boat  from  Memphis  to  Vicksburg.  Just 
as  the  boat  was  backing  out  from  Helena  it  occurred  to  me  that 
I  had  learned  General  Grant  had  said  he  would  reunite  the  Third 
Iowa  Cavalry,  the  companies  of  which  were,  then,  some  with  him 
and  some  near  Little  Rock,  Arkansas ;  and  although  merely  a  Major, 
just  off  a  raid  of  some  weeks,  and  not  yet  back  to  camp,  I  sum- 
moned heart  o?  grace  to  hurry  to  the  General  and  ask  him  to  put 
my  command  ashore  so  as  to  go  over  to  Little  Eock  and  accom- 
plish the  reunion  of  the  command.  So  I  boldly  went  to  the  cabin 
parlor,  where  our  great  Commander  was,  surrounded  by  his  staff 
and  accompanied  by  other  Generals  (as  he  had  been  to  Cairo  after 
the  fall  of  Vicksburg  to  communicate  with  the  authorities  at 
Washington),  and,  asking  for  General  Grant,  to  my  astonishment 
he  came  out  in  person,  and  upon  my  salute  said,  "Major,  what  can 
I  do  for  you  ?"  He  knew  me  only  by  my  shoulder  straps.  I  replied 
that  I  had  heard  he  was  willing  to  reunite  the  Third  Iowa  Cavalry, 
and  if  he  would  put  us  off  here  and  send  us  to  Little  Eock,  he  could 
accomplish  that.     He  asked  if  I   was  in  command  of  the  men 

—62— 


aboard,  and  upon  an  affirmative  reply  he  instantly  said,  "I  will  do  it, 
sir."  Without  calling  .any  aide  or  adjutant  or  orderly,  he  almost 
ran  to  the  side  of  the  boat,  leaned  far  out  and  hailed  the  captain 
and  told  him  to  "land"  the  boat,  which  was  then  backing  out  into 
the  stream.  As  soon  as  he  saw  this  being  done  he  said  to  me  to  come 
with  him,  and  still,  with  no  one  else,  took  me  to  the  shipping  clerk's 
desk,  which  you  all  know  is  on  the  cabin  deck,  in  front,  where 
invoices  are  made  and  receipted,  and  there  taking  the  clerk's  pen 
and  ink  that  were  at  hand,  and  a  sheet  of  paper  lying  there,  he 
wrote  out  in  full,  as  complete  and  regular  an  order  as  any  adjutant 
could  have  done  it,  for  Major  Noble  to  disembark  with  his  command 
at  Helena  and  report  to  General  Steel  at  Little  Eock.  This  he 
folded  quietly  and  then  said,  "This  is  your  order.  Now  I  will 
write  another  for  you  to  deliver  to  General  Steel."  This  he  did, 
and  giving  it  to  me,  said  I  was  to  see  it  was  delivered,  and  he 
then  told  me  to  move  my  command  ashore.  This  I  did.  My 
regiment  was  reunited  and  became  on  re-enlistment  one  of  the 
strongest  in  numbers,  and  allow  me  to  say,  in  military  force,  in 
our  Army. 

I  submit  that  for  the  conqueror  at  Vicksburg,  whose  fame  had 
already  reached  around  the  earth,  to  have  thus  done  this  simple  act 
at  the  request  of  merely  a  Major,  without  a  thought  of  reference 
to  some  one  else,  and  to  have  inscribed  the  order  in  his  own  hand- 
writing, and  treated  this  minor  officer  with  so  much  kindly  con- 
sideration, and  to  do  instantly,  when  he  could,  what  he  had  said  he 
would  do,  exhibited  in  personal  action  that  plain,  simple  nature  we 
always  find  allied  to  such  greatness  of  mind  as  all  the  world  now 
knows  General  Grant  possessed.  I  have  the  order  yet;  it  is  my 
best  biography  of  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  your  father  Comrade,  General 
Grant,  whose  kindness  of  nature  and  simple  manners  you  yourself 
have  inherited  and  constantly  displayed. 

In  a  letter  addressed  to  me  on  January  22nd,  1889,  General 
W.  T.  Sherman  writing  as  to  a  paper  on  the  Battle  of  Pea  Kidge 
I  had  read  before  the  Missouri  Commandery  of  the  Loyal  Legion, 
said :  "What,  however,  pleased  me  more  was  to  see  you  come  to 
the  rescue  of  our  mutual  friend,  General  S.  E.  Curtis.  Somehow, 
few  men  realized  the  full  value  of  the  victories  of  Pea  Eidge,  Donel- 
son  and  Shiloh.  Though  not  conclusive,  they  gave  the  keynote  to 
all  subsequent  events  of  the  war.  They  encouraged  us  and  dis- 
couraged our  too  sanguine  opponents,  thereby  leading  to  all  our 
Western  successes  which  were  conclusive  of  the  final  result.     The 

—63— 


more  you  stud}'  the  Civil  War,  the  more  you  will  discover  that  the 
Northwestern  States  'saved  the  Union/  This  people  was  in  earnest ; 
their  volunteers  meant  'fight/  " 

General  Dodge,  in  a  letter  dated  September  2 2nd,  1911,  to  my 
regiment,  the  Third  Iowa  Cavalry,  in  reunion  at  Centerville,  Iowa, 
wrote :  "While  the  Pea  Ridge  campaign  was  one  of  the  first  of  the 
Civil  War,  where  we  were  all  inexperienced  and  had  to  learn  as  we 
went  along,  still,  if  you  look  at  the  records  of  the  War  Department 
3'ou  cannot  find  any  campaign  where  we  marched  so  far  into  the 
enemy's  country  without  rail  or  water  and  lived  off  a  country 
that  even  at  the  present  time  looks  as  though  it  would  not  support 
an  army.  Then,  the  Battle  of  Pea  Ridge  had  just  as  hard  fighting 
in  it,  compared  to  its  numbers,  as  any  of  the  battles  of  the  Civil 
War,  and  the  loss  of  Carres  and  Davis'  Divisions  were  very  heavy, 
and  it  virtually  settled  the  enemy's  occupation  of  Northern  Arkansas 
and  Missouri  for  the  whole  war.  I  have  always  thought  and  said 
that  General  Curtis  never  received  the  credit  for  the  campaign  that 
he  was  entitled  to,  but  I  think  as  time  goes  on  and  the  records  are 
read  that  people  appreciate  more  fully  what  that  campaign  accom- 
plished/' 

In  conclusion  let  me  say  it  has  rejoiced  me  also  to  have  attended 
with  you  the  unveiling  of  the  Memorial  Shaft  to  Lincoln.  It  is 
an  imposing  testimonial.  It  speaks  in  its  strength  and  simplicity 
of  our  great  leader  in  the  thought,  logic  and  force  of  the  Civil 
War.  It  witnesses  that  when  Curtis,  afterwards  our  General,  was 
advocating  in  Congress  the  construction  of  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific, 
and  Dodge,  now  our  beloved  Comrade  and  presiding  General,  was 
engaged  in  preparation  to  be  the  great  engineer  and  constructor  of 
that  band  and  bond  for  the  Union,  Lincoln  was  here  at  Council 
Bluffs  looking  off  across  the  broad  valley  of  the  Missouri  toward 
the  golden  gates  of  California,  with  his  own  prophetic  vision  as  to 
what  was  yet  to  be.  There  is  no  doubt  that  vision  never  left  him, 
and  as  Judge  Usher  of  his  Cabinet  has  declared,  "There  never  was 
an  hour  during  the  whole  war  for  the  Union  that  Lincoln  ever  for 
a  moment  lost  hope  of  ultimate  and  complete  success."  Yes,  his 
was  the  all-embracing  spirit  of  our  country's  cause.  He  cared  for 
the  soldier,  the  sailor,  the  mother  and  wife — he  brooded  over  the 
whole  people  and  loved  them  all.  There  was  no  appeal  to  his 
charity  that  had  not  response ;  there  was  no  incitement  to  malice  he 
did  not  cast  aside;  he  was  with  the  people  at  their  homes,  he  went 
with  the  men  to  the  battle-fields,  and  he  stood  watch  at  every  bed 

—64— 


of  the  wounded  and  the  sick.  We  had  our  Generals  whom  we 
admired  and  followed ;  we  had  our  Comrades  whose  love  and  dangers 
we  daily  shared;  but  there  was  one  toward  whom  our  faces  ever 
turned  and  to  sustain  whom  we  ever  prayed  to  God,  on  whom  our 
hope  was  founded,  for  we  in  our  hearts  well  knew  lie  was  the 
"Soldier's  Friend" — Abraham  Lincoln. 

ADDRESS  BY  GENERAL  BLACK. 

GENERAL  DODGE:  We  have  with  us  another  officer  who 
fought  at  Pea  Ridge  under  General  Davis,  on  the  west  of  us,  where 
they  performed  such  valuable  service  and  drove  the  Arkansas  troops 
home.  It  is  not  necessary  to  introduce  him  to  you;  you  all  know 
him  as  a  soldier  and  statesman,  General  John  C.  Black.  He  fell 
in  the  fight  there,  but,  thank  God,  recovering  from  several  serious 
wounds,  is  with  us  today. 

General  Black  spoke  as  follows : 

Commander,  Comrades  of  the  Fourth  Iowa  and  of  Reed's  Battery, 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen : 

I  have  listened  with  charmed  attention  to  what  General  Noble 
has  been  saying  to  us  of  the  silent  Commander,  and  before  proceed- 
ing with  the  main  address  which  is  in  my  mind,  I  want  to  reminisce 
a  little  on  an  incident  that,  so  far  as  I  know,  has  never  had 
publication,  about  General  Grant.  I  had  in  my  regiment  an  old  man, 
of  Company  E,  whose  name  was  Smith.  He  was  well  up  towards 
sixty  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  enlistment,  but  you  know  that  now 
and  then  the  fever  got  into  even  old  veins,  and  this  was  one  of  the 
old  men  of  the  service  when  he  entered.  He  tramped  with  us 
through  nearly  two  years.  He  had  with  him  when  he  entered  the 
service  a  youngster  of  thirteen  or  fourteen,  Ed  Smith,  who  enlisted 
as  a  musician.  The  old  man  carried  a  fife  and  the  boy  carried  a 
drum  in  what  I  used  to  think  was  one  of  the  best  martial  bands  in 
the  Southwest.  After  Vicksburg  had  fallen  I  received  a  letter  one 
day  from  the  headquarters  there  of  the  United  States  forces.  It 
was  written  on  the  paper  that  you  all  remember,  I  expect,  of  about 
the  size  (indicating)  folded  up  in  the  regulation  fashion  and  three 
pages  of  it  were  filled  with  a  report  and  request  to  the  commanding 
officer,  from  old  Sol  Smith.  He  recited  his  love  for  his  country; 
he  recited  the  services  that  he  had  rendered;  he  told  how  he  had 
brought  his  boy  witli  him,  and  how  through  nearly  two  years  now 
they  had  marched  side  by  side  in  the  same  ranks,  and  he  said.  "] 

—65— 


feel  that  I  am  too  old  longer  to  serve  the  country ;  I  can  be  of  good 
somewhere  else;  I  leave  my  boy  in  the  service,  but  I  want  to  go 
home."  His  letter  covered  three  pages.  It  was  then  turned  over 
and  folded,  leaving  the  blank  sides.  It  bore  some  official  endorse- 
ments. It  had  not  gone  up  to  the  headquarters  through  the.  regular 
channels,  but  had  evidently  been  delivered  directly  to  the  head- 
quarters. There  were  official  notations  of  the  contents  of  the  letter, 
and  then,  after  that  penned  in  his  own  hand,  these  words:  "The 
commanding  officer  of  the  Thirty-seventh  Illinois  will  cause  the 
honorable  discharge  of  the  writer  of  this  letter.     U.  S.  Grant." 

That  gave  me  a  knowledge  of  the  man's  marvelous  detailed 
information  and  application  and  of  his  willingness  to  deal  with  the 
humblest  man  in  his  command  as  a  man,  a  citizen  and  a  soldier; 
and  from  the  time  that  I  saw  that  inscription  upon  that  letter  I 
had  a  feeling  of  regard  not  alone  for  the  great  achievements  of 
G-eneral  Grant  but  for  the  affectionate  disposition  and  manly 
character  displa3red  by  him. 

But  attention !  I  have  looked  at  you  as  you  have  sat  before 
me,  and  I  do  not  believe  under  the  disguises  that  you  have  assumed 
that  I  would  be  able  to  say  that  I  had  ever  met  one  of  you  before, 
yet  we  are  old  acquaintances.  In  that  spring  of  1862  you  remember 
where  the  armies  of  the  Union  gathered.  They  were  at  Eolla,  at 
Sedalia,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Jefferson  City,  or  wherever  a  camp 
could  be  made  in  Missouri  in  which  they  could  be  fed,  drilled  and 
disciplined.  And  then  we  marched  on  the  various  roads  gathering 
together  towards  this  battle-field  of  Pea  Eidge.  When  and  where 
the  battle  would  be  fought  we  could  not  tell,  but  the  objective  of 
Curtis  and  the  Army  of  the  Frontier  was  the  enemy.  We  were  not 
marching  towards  any  capital  or  any  strategic  point,  but  we  were 
marching  towards  the  enemy.  And  so  at  last  we  made  our  junction 
in  the  far  Southwest  and  our  camps  were  made  after  the  little 
skirmish  at  Sugar  Creek,  which  some  of  you  cavalr}Tnen  may 
remember,  along  the  banks  of  which  were  the  camps  of  the  main 
body.  Some  of  us  were  lying  far  to  the  south  in  the  prairies,  and 
suddenly  on  the  6th  of  March  there  came  couriers  to  the  advanced 
posts,  of  which  we  were  part,  telling  us  to  retire  to  the  line  of 
Sugar  Creek,  and  to  fortify  there  against  the  approach  of  the 
enemy.  All  day  long  over  that  prairie,  which  was  as  sunny  as  this 
city  is  today,  there  could  be  heard  nearer  and  nearer  the  sound  of 
the  cannon  of  the  pursuers  and  the  pursued.  Sieger's  men  were 
falling  back  and  fighting  in  retreat.     Some  of  you  perhaps  recall 

—66— 


the  sound  of  those  cannon  as  I  speak  of  them.  And  all  day  long 
the  commands  that  had  been  left  in  camp  and  those  that  had  been 
rushed  to  the  rear  were  throwing  up  fortifications  along  the  bluff 
of  this  Sugar  Creek  and  on  the  northern  side,  until  when  night 
came  and  we  laid  down  pick  and  shovel  and  laid  aside  the  axe,  we 
had  constructed  a  very  formidable  series  of  breastworks.  And  I 
remember  the  satisfaction  with  which  the  fellows  who  had  been 
working  on  them  looked  at  the  works  as  they  picked  up  their  guns 
and  said,  "Well,  let  the  Johnnies  come  on ;  we  are  pretty  well  fixed 
for  them  here."  This  was  the  advanced  position  on  the  farthest 
western  flank  of  the  Union  armies  and  all  of  the  Union  armies. 
There  was  but  a  single  line  of  communication  open  between  us  and 
the  headquarters  of  the  great  Department  of  Missouri,  side  roads 
being  blockaded  and  useless,  leaving  one  long  line  that  ran  through 
Eolla,  Springfield,  Cassville,  on  down  to  Cross  Timbers ;  and  we  laid 
in  wait:  our  line  of  fortifications,  stretching  from  east  to  west, 
lay  completely  across  that  line.  We  knew  if  the  Johnnies  came  at 
us  from  the  south  we  could  handle  them,  and  so  did  they;  and  the 
impolite  fellows  wouldn't  come  to  our  prepared  front  door,  which 
we  had  so  thoughtfully  decorated  for  them,  and  so  it  happened  that 
instead  of  advancing  directly  upon  us  they  deflected  their  great 
columns  outnumbering  us  two  and  a  half  to  one,  for  they  brought 
30,000  men  on  that  field  of  battle  and  we  had  but  12,500.  And  in 
the  morning  of  the  7th,  when  Siegel's  retreat  had  ceased  and  his 
forces  were  united  with  ours  in  battle-line,  we  were  facing  to  the 
south  and  the  enemy  were  stretched  between  us  and  St.  Louis  on 
the  north.  Our  fortifications  were  to  the  south.  Their  polite  ad- 
vance was  to  be  from  the  south.  There  was  never  a  greater  right 
about  face  in  the  world  than  was  executed  by  the  Union  Army  that 
morning,  but  no  retirement.  We  simply  went  up  onto  the  plateaus 
that  lay  at  the  foot  of  the  Ridge  and  the  top  of  the  valleys,  and 
then  the  battle  took  place  that  has  been  described  to  you.  I  did 
not  have  the  great  pleasure  of  meeting  you  yesterday,  but  as  General 
Noble  was  telling  this  morning  about  the  fighting  at  Leetown  and 
the  dreadful  destruction  that  had  been  wrought  there  in  the  armies 
of  Price  and  McCulloch  by  the  advance  under  Jeff  C.  Davis,  I  was 
proud!  for  my  regiment  had  those  five  shooters  and  we  hold  that 
center  against  all  odds  and  checked  that  awful  advance  oi'  the 
Indians  and  the  Arkansans.  It  was  the  Thirty-seventh  Illinois  that 
held  the  center  of  the  line.  We  were  the  men  that  had  the  live 
shooters:  we  were  the  men  that  blazed  away  and  in  the  track  of  our 

—67— 


fire  these  men  lay  dead,  McCulloch  and  Mcintosh.  The  greatest 
loss  of  this  battle  was  borne  by  the  Fourth  Iowa;  the  third  greatest 
loss  and  not  much  less  fell  on  the  Thirty-seventh  Illinois.  Each 
regiment  that  day  made  a  Brigadier ! 

The  greatest  European  history,  Mr.  President,  that  has  ever 
been  written  by  a  representative  soldier  and  scholar  of  the  Civil  War 
was  written  by  the  Compte  de  Paris.  Enjoying  the  high  advantages 
of  writing  from  the  standpoint  of  a  trained  soldier  and  diplomat, 
he  turns  from  a  hundred  stricken  and  bloody  fields  and  marks  the 
Battle  of  Pea  Eidge  as  one  of  the  great,  if  not  the  greatest,  in 
strategic  importance  of  all  that  were  delivered  between  the  Union 
and  the  Confederate  forces.  And  well  can  that  be,  for  on  that 
battle-field  not  alone  had  the  rebels  of  Missouri — I  do  not  say  rebel- 
lious Missouri — but  not  alone  had  the  rebels  of  Missouri  who  were 
rebels  not  alone  against  the  Union  but  against  their  own  State, 
gathered  their  forces,  but  Arkansas  had  gathered  her  forces  and 
Texas  had  sent  her  contingent  and  the  Indians  were  there  with 
their  painted  horrors.  And  the  Tigers  of  Louisiana  were  there,  and 
every  man  that  could  be  gathered  in  all  the  Confederacy  west  of  the 
Mississippi  was  there,  endeavoring  to  turn  the  right  of  the  Union 
Army,  to  march  through  Missouri,  to  drive  the  Union  forces  out  of 
St.  Louis  and  to  re-establish  Claiborne  Jackson  as  the  Governor  of 
a  Confederate  State.  And  then  and  there  we  held  them,  and  then 
and  there  we  destroyed  them ;  and  from  that  time  on  until  the  end 
of  the  war  they  never  sought  but  upon  a  single  occasion  to  retain 
the  great  territory  that  lay  west  of  the  Mississippi ;  and  when  Grant 
cut  their  lines  far  down  the  Mississippi  and  isolated  the  South- 
western country  the  war  beyond  the  Mississippi  was  substantially 
at  an  end. 

I  am  not  going  to  follow  you  through  all  the  great  glory  and 
the  great  achievements  of  that  battle-field.  It  has  been  fought 
before  you  time  and  again.  You  men  of  the  Fourth  T<wa  were 
younger  then,  you  wore  black  hair  and  brown  hair  and  yellow  hair, 
and  you  were  good  boys,  and  you  had  a  good  and  splendid  man  in 
your  leadership,  General  G.  M.  Dodge.  And  right  there  Missouri 
and  Iowa  and  Illinois  were  standing  shoulder  by  shoulder,  a  com- 
pact and  splendid  body  of  soldiery,  whose  one  purpose  was  to  save 
the  LTnion  and  to  check  the  tide  of  rebellion  rolling  up  towards 
our  own  borders  in  the  beloved  lands  from  which  we  had  come. 
And  we  did  it;  and  the  years  have  gone;  and  that  Albert  Pike,  of 
whom  you,  General  Noble,  have  spoken,  who  led  his  Indians  in 

—68— 


that  battle-field,  stands  in  enduring  bronze  today  facing  towards 
the  capitol  of  his  country  in  the  great  City  of  Washington,  and  all 
men  do  him  honor. 

The  last  time  I  was  on  that  battle-field  whose  thickets  had  once 
been  filled  with  the  dying  and  the  dead,  I  looked  towards  that 
long,  dark  ridge  whose  echoes  once  had  all  been  alive  with  the 
voices  of  war  and  the  clamor  of  men;  I  looked  from  a  railroad 
station  of  a  road  over  which  I  had  traveled  in  going  down  into 
Oklahoma  to  deliver  a  patriotic  address  before  a  body  of  Union 
and  Confederate  soldiers  summoned  there  by  one  of  the  very  men 
that  had  been  fighting  at  Pea  Ridge  with  me,  one  of  the  Sergeants 
of  my  old  command,  and  on  my  return  stopping  at  this  station  for 
breakfast,  I  had  gone  out  into  the  field  in  the  early  morning  an^ 
looked  towards  that  somber  and  magnificent  old  mountain  still 
dark  with  its  oaks  and  its  trees,  again  solemn  and  silent  as  nature 
made  it,  and  in  between  stretched  a  broad  field,  and  that  was  filled 
with  girls  and  boys  and  women  in  the  simple  garb  of  the  country 
and  the  times,  engaged  in  picking  strawberries  to  send  to  St.  Louis 
and  Chicago;  and  I  felt  that  the  Union  somehow  or  other  was 
absolutely  safe  when  in  the  very  sight  of  the  high  altars  of  strife 
the  work  of  ministration  was  being  done  by  the  women  and  the 
children  and  by  the  men  of  the  land  to  the  needs  and  comfort  of 
our  great  united  country. 

And  gazing  towards  that  battle-field  over  the  peaceful  workers, 
I  saw  again  you  men  of  the  Fourth ;  there  I  heard  the  guns  of  your 
great  battery;  there  I  knew  and  felt  what  it  was  to  have  been  one 
of  a  victorious  and  splendid  army  which  had  done  its  whole  duty. 
And  so  on  yesterday  when  the  accounts  were  given  of  what  you  had 
done  on  the  many  fields  over  which  you  had  marched,  I  was  thank- 
ful that  I  had  been  at  the  beginning  of  your  pilgrimage  and  could 
wish  you  Godspeed  through  all  its  tortuous  and  splendid  way. 

Yet,  as  Eeed  was  talking  so  charmingly  and  entertainingly  of 
the  achievements  of  his  battery,  he  rather  checked  me  with  one  or 
two  statements  that  needed  explanation.  He  said  it  took  him 
three-quarters  of  a  day  to  get  by  a  row  of  saloons  in  Memphis,  and 
that  three-quarters  of  the  battery  only  was  tight.  My  fellow- 
citizens,  T  have  known  a  whole  regiment  to  go  blind  in  a  quarter  of 
an  hour  with  half  the  saloons,  and  I  wondered  what  part  of  that 
battery  was  acting  as  a  Salvation  Army  in  trying  to  save  the  part 
that  needed  it,  that  they  should  have  taken  three-quarters  of  a  day 
to  nass  a  lino  of  saloons.     T  have  known  a  political  parade  that  it 

—69— 


was  said  took  an  hour  in  passing  a  given  saloon,  but  I  never  knew 
of  a  Union  force  before  that  needed  to  take  so  much  time  in  getting 
by  the  booze.  As  a  rule,  it  would  have  been  an  easy  task.  Yet, 
joking  aside,  looking  at  you  today,  I  do  not  seem  to  be  looking  upon 
a  group  or  roisterous  fellows  whose  heads  were  once  crowned  with 
the  laurels  of  victorious  strife  and  whose  voices  rose  wide  and  deep 
with  the  triumphant  cheers  of  rejoicing;  I  seem  rather  to  be  look- 
ing into  the  faces  of  a  lot  of  presiding  elders ;  and  I  sometimes  won- 
der as  I  do  now  when  I  look  at  you,  patriarchs,  if  you  please,  with 
children  that  step  behind  you  in  long  processions,  whether  you  are 
really  the  men  who  did  the  striving  and  the  fighting  of  which  you 
tell  your  children  long  stories  on  the  winter  nights,  or  whether 
you  are  simply  the  surviving  ones  that  did  not  do  any  fighting  at 
all  but  saved  your  hides  in  the  day  of  danger. 

A  COMRADE :     Ask  General  Dodge  about  it. 

GENERAL  BLACK :  And  here  we  are  after  it  all,  gathered 
in  Iowa,  great,  splendid,  peaceful,  no  troubles  of  any  kind  except 
those  of  an  occasional  "insurrection,"  as  I  understand,  and  that  is 
being  settled  in  peaceful  processes  as  the  people  will.  But  with 
every  citizen  employed  and  every  enterprise  flourishing  and  a  great 
land  rejoicing  in  the  results  of  your  labors,  it  was  worth  it  all;  it 
was  worth  having  fought  and  suffered  at  Pea  Ridge;  it  was  worth 
having  fought  and  suffered  on  the  thousand  fields  of  strife,  simply 
to  stand  here  and  to  know  that  the  sunshine  today  from  Bunker 
Hill  Monument  to  the  Golden  Gate  is  falling  upon  a  peaceful, 
united,  prosperous  and  happy,  loving  common  people.  I  thank  God 
this  is  so.  I  thank  God  that  when  He  stirred  the  whirlwinds  of 
war  he  did  not  scatter  on  that  whirlwind  the  seeds  of  permanent 
strife  and  disunion,  but  that  instead  by  His  good  angels  He  sowed 
this  land  with  American  truth,  with  American  traditions,  and  with 
American  hopes,  and  that  today  we  are  reaping  the  great  harvest 
that  the  Almighty  intended  that  we  should  reap. 

But  when  I  get  into  the  contemplation  of  these  larger  things 
I  pass  away  from  the  contemplation  of  an  individual  regiment  and 
an  individual  battery,  great  and  strong  as  they  were,  and  I  know 
that  you  are  not  here  today  to  listen  to  an  oration  upon  the  war  or 
its  results,  but  to  have  a  camp  talk  about  yourselves ;  and  so  I  am 
thankful  to  have  brought  my  little  mite  to  your  entertainment;  I 
am  thankful  that  I  have  been  among  you,  my  gray  old  friends,  who 
were  my  black  and  brown  friends  of  forty-nine  years  ago. 

—70— 


ADDRESS  BY  GENERAL  GRANT. 

GENERAL  DODGE :  We  have  with  us  General  Grant,  Com- 
mander of  the  Military  Division  of  the  East.  Although  I  agreed 
not  to  call  upon  him,  I  will  ask  him  to  say  a  few  words  to  us.  I 
know  you  would  not  forgive  me  if  I  let  you  go  without  hearing  from 
him. 

General  Grant  spoke  as  follows : 

General  Dodge,  Fourth  Iowa,  Dodge's  Battery,  and  the  Friends  of 
the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  That  Are  Here: 

I  have  had  my  talk  and  I  am  afraid  I  have  talked  too 
much.  I  want  to  thank  you,  however,  for  the  very  cordial  recep- 
tion that  you  have  given  me,  and  I  want  to  thank  the  speakers  for 
the  nice  things  they  have  said  in  such  a  pleasant  way.  I  greatly 
appreciate  the  compliments  that  you  have  paid  to  the  memory  of 
my  father,  and  in  listening  to  the  history  of  the  Fourth  Iowa  and 
Dodge's  Battery  I  cannot  wonder  that  he  was  successful  in  the  field 
where  he  served  with  them.  I  was  thinking  while  listening  and 
wondering  if  you  all  really  realized  the  position  that  you  will  take 
in  the  history  of  the  country  in  the  future.  You  have  seen  historic 
societies  based  upon  the  colonial  wars  and  the  Revolution  and  the 
War  of  1812  and  various  other  things,  and  you  know  how  the 
descendants  of  those  who  were  in  these  wars  appreciate  the  deeds 
and  the  works  of  their  ancesters.  What  will  your  descendants  think 
fifty  or  a  hundred  years  from  now  when  they  contemplate  your 
deeds  and  the  part  you  played  in  the  creation  of  the  Government 
of  the  United  States?  In  my  conception  of  the  building  of  this 
country  I  look  back  upon  the  French  and  Indian  War  of  1755  to 
1757  as  being,  as  you  might  say,  the  inception  of  the  American 
Republic.  It  was  then  that  the  people  learned  to  unite.  The 
successes  and  the  deeds  of  that  war  were  due  to  people  who  under- 
stood the  strength  of  combination  and  unity.  Then  came  political 
questions  which  gradually  drew  the  people  together,  and  knowing 
their  strength  from  the  lessons  they  have  learned  in  the  Freneli  and 
Indian  War,  we  have  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the 
Revolution.  And  that  was  the  birth  of  the  American  Republic. 
After  eight  years  of  labor  we  find  the  country  finally  bom  and 
launched  forth  in  its  childhood.  In  its  youthful  career  it  had 
what  you  might  call  children's  diseases,  the  whooping  cough  and 
measles  and  chicken  pox  and  various  other  things  in  a  discussion  of 

—71  — 


the  Constitution;  and  finally  it  had  a  serious  disease  and  went  to 
bed  sick  in  the  time  of  the  Eebellion.  Your  deeds  carried  it 
through,  and  at  Appamattox  the  United  States  of  America  stepped 
forth  a  full-grown  man.  Since  that  time  you  hate  gone  on  and  at 
times  have  had  the  toothache  and  other  manly  diseases,  .but  you 
have  generally  had  a  good  doctor,  sometimes  quacks,  but  you  have 
succeeded  in  getting  well  and  are  now  going  on  in  a  healthy,  strong 
way,  and  some  among  you  seem  to  understand  a  way  that  would 
be  progressive  and  an  improvement  for  the  future,  and  I  believe 
that  the  American  Eepublic,  as  represented  by  a  man,  is  not  yet  to 
its  best  stage,  but  will  arrive  there  eventually;  and  I  hope  it  will 
live  longer  than  any  other  nation  and  never  die  from  old  age. 
Thank  you. 

GENERAL  DODGE:  I  want  to  introduce  to  you  an  old 
friend,  a  member  of  the  Society  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  and 
ask  him  to  tell  you  a  story  or  recite  one  of  his  pieces.  General 
Stibbs. 

ADDRESS    BY    GENERAL    STIBBS. 

General  J.  H.  Stibbs  spoke  as  follows : 
Comrades  and  Ladies: 

An  old  soldier,  wherever  I  meet  him,  seems  to  me  pretty  near  a 
brother ;  and  an  Iowa  soldier  is  a  little  dearer  to  me  than  the  other 
fellow.  I  don't  know  whether  any  of  you  remember  me,  but  I  was 
with  my  command  just  to  the  right  of  the  Second  Iowa  Battery  at 
Tupelo.  At  Nashville  when  you  charged  I  was  just  ahead  of  you.  I 
have  come  to  regard  the  Second  Iowa  Battery  as  fellows  that  were 
mighty  close  to  me. 

If  I  had  more  time  I  might  go  into  a  series  of  reminiscences  and 
tell  something  that  would  interest  you,  but  it  is  time  to  get  away. 
General  Dodge  asked  me  to  tell  a  story.  I  have  something  of  a 
reputation  as  a  story-teller,  because  all  my  stories  are  true.  I  see 
nearly  every  man  here  wears  a  bronze  button,  and  I  wonder  whether 
every  one  here  belongs  to  the  Grand  Army.  Those  that  don't,  if 
there  are  any,  have  made  a  mistake.  I  want  to  tell  you  the  story 
of  a  veteran  who  joined  the  Grand  Army  not  long  ago. 

General  Stibbs  recited  a  poem  telling  how  a  veteran  came  to 
join  the  Grand  Army. 


—72— 


A  GREETING  IN  VERSE. 

A  poem  by  an  old  soldier  was  sent  to  General  Dodge  and  was 
read  to  the  Veterans.  It  was  an  old  soldier's  greeting  to  the  Army 
of  the  Tennessee,  to  the  Veterans  and  to  General  Dodge.  Fnfor- 
tunately  this  poem  has  been  lost. 

REGIMENTAL  DRUM  AND  COMPANY  BOX. 

Comrade  Marshall  then  spoke  to  the  Veterans  as  follows : 

I  have  at  home  the  original  bass  drum  of  the  Fourth  Iowa  In- 
fantry. It  is  not  Government  property,  but  was  bought  by  the  boys 
of  the  Regiment  by  private  contribution  and  presented  to  the  bass 
drummer  who  was  killed  by  accident  on  the  21st  day  of  July,  1865, 
at  Louisville/Kentucky.  I  at  one  time  made  him  a  promise  that  if 
anything  should  happen  to  him  I  would  take  the  drum  home  and 
keep  it  as  long  as  I  lived ;  and  I  threw  away  everything  I  had  when 
I  started  from  Louisville  on  the  morning  of  the  24th  of  July,  ex- 
cept that  old  drum.  I  took  it  to  my  home  in  Iowa  and  it  has  got  the 
best  place  there  today,  but  I  am  getting  old  and  I  have  decided  to 
ask  permission  of  the  Comrades  to  make  some  disposition  of  that 
drum  so  that  they  may  have  a  chance  to  see  it  as  long  as  they  live, 
and  I  have  thought  of  sending  it  to  the  Historical  Society  at  Des 
Moines.     I  ask  the  consent  of  the  Regiment  that  that  be  done. 

GENERAL  DODGE  :  If  it  is  sent  to  the  curator  it  will  be  kept 
where  all  the  souvenirs  are.  I  have  no  doubt  they  will  accept  it  and 
place  it  where  it  can  be  kept  forever.  What  is  the  pleasure  of  the 
Society  ? 

COMRADE  CHANDLER :  I  have  our  company  box.  It  is  made 
of  black  walnut.  It  has  all  the  retained  copies  of  our  muster  rolls 
and  such  things  as  that.  I  would  like  to  dispose  of  it.  I  spoke  to  Ad- 
jutant General  Byers  about  it  and  he  told  me  to  send  it  to  the 
Historical  Society  of  Des  Moines. 

GENERAL  DODGE :  Send  it  to  the  curator  of  the  Historical 
Society.  The  State  of  Iowa  has  constructed  a  splendid  building 
which  is  devoted  to  the  preservation  of  documents  and  souvenirs  re- 
lating to  the  history  of  the  State  and  to  the  Civil  War.  That  is  the 
place  to  send  it.  I  have  sent  there  all  my  commissions  and  a  great 
many  things  in  connection  with  the  war.  Everything  is  put  away  in 
splendid  order  where  any  visitor  can  sec  them  and  on  greai  occasions 
at  Des  Moines  the  rooms  were  full. 

—73— 


It  was  moved  and  carried  that  the  Drum  and  the  Company  Box 
be  sent  to  the  Historical  Building  at  Des  Moines. 

A  COMEADE :  As  a  member  of  the  Society  of  the  Army  of  the 
Tennessee  I  would  like  to  hear  from  Judge  McPherson. 

JUDGE  McPHERSON :  '  I  appreciate  the  compliment  but  I 
could  not  think  of  taking  up  your  time. 

GENERAL  DODGE :  This  evening  you  all  form  at  your  head- 
quarters a  little  before  eight.  I  wish  to  thank  you  all  for  the  visit 
you  have  made  me  here  and  for  the  great  pleasure  you  have  given 
us  and  I  know  you  have  given  a  great  pleasure  to  our  citizens.  I 
also  wish  to  thank  our  friends  who  have  spoken  to  us  so  eloquently, 
and  now  we  will  have  to  say  good-bye. 

RESOLUTIONS. 

Captain  W.  H.  Campbell,  of  Company  C,  offered  the  following 
Resolution,  which  was  unanimously  and  enthusiastically  adopted : 

Be  It  Resolved,  We,  the  members  of  the  Fourth  Iowa  Infantry, 
assembled  at  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa,  on  this,  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary 
of  the  Organization  of  said  Regiment,  do  now  here  express  our 
thanks  to  the  citizens  of  the  City  of  Council  Bluffs  for  the  kind  and 
cordial  reception  given  us  at  this  Reunion,  and  especially  do  we 
extend  to  our  respected  and  adored  First  Commander,  General  G. 
M.  Dodge,  our  humble,  heartfelt  and  reverend  thanks,  to  whom  we 
realize  we  are  indebted  for  the  privileges  of  enjoying  this  Golden 
Anniversary  of  our  Regiment. 

In  our  youth,  in  our  young  manhood,  we  respected  General 
Dodge  as  a  skilled  commander.  In  our  mature  manhood  we  have 
respected  and  admired  him  as  a  wise,  far-sighted,  enterprising 
American  citizen,  who  has  done  more  than  any  other  man  in  de- 
veloping and  building  up  this  western  part  of  our  country,  and  we 
wish  him  many  years  of  life  yet  that  he  may  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his 
enterprising  labor  in  developing  this  country  to  which  he  con- 
tributed so  much  to  save  in  the  dark  hours  of  our  conutry's  history. 

RECEPTION. 

The  Veterans  then  adjourned  to  the  parlors  of  the  Elks'  Club 
where  the  ladies  of  Council  Bluffs  gave  a  reception  to  all  the  Vet- 
erans attending  this  Reunion,  and  they  and  their  families  enjoyed 
the  hospitality  and  refreshments  served. 

BANQUET. 

At  8  P.  M.  the  Fourth  Iowa  Infantry,  Dodge's  Second  Iowa 
Battery  and  Band  marched  to  the  Grand  Hotel  for  the  banquet. 

— 7  4 — 


The  dining  hall  was  beautifully  decorated  with  flags  and  each  table 
had  a  bouquet  on  it.  Over  the  head  table  was  an  immense  piece,  a 
fac  simile  of  the  badge  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  including  the 
badges  of  the  Thirteenth,  Fifteenth  and  Sixteenth  Corps.  The 
speaking  lasted  until  2  A.  M.  and  was  greatly  enjoyed  throughout 
the  evening. 

The  menu  and  toasts  were  as  follows : 

ARMY  OF  THE  TENNESSEE 

Grand  Hotel 

October  11,  1911,  8  P.  M. 

MENU. 
Crab  Meat  Cocktail  Celery 

:£       $       $ 

Essence  of  Fowl  A  La  Epicure 
Ripe  Olives  Salted  Nuts  Sherry 

*  H*  5fc 

Fillet  of  Fresh  California  Sole 
Potato  Richelieu  Tartar  Sauce  Sauterne 

*  *     * 

Creamed  Veal  Sweetbreads,  En  Caisse 

French  Peas  Claret 

*  *     * 

Tennessee  Punch 

Potted  Squab  Chicken 

Virginia  Yams  Champagne 

*  *     * 

Lettuce  Salad  Wafers 

Roquefort  Cheese  Dressing 

*  *     * 

Parfait  Americaine 
Cake  Creme  do  Men  the 

Coffee. 
* 

TOASTS. 

Captain  J.  S.  Lathrop, 

Commander  Iowa  Commandorv  M.  0.  L.  L.. 

Presiding. 
* 

Divine  "Blessing     .      .      Bishop  R.  ScanneL] 
—75— 


Song— "Tenting    Tonight" Elks'    Quartet 

"American  Democracy" Eesponse  by  Archbishop  John  Ireland 

"Some  Questions  Yet  to  Be  Settled" 

Eesponse  by  Colonel  W.  P.  Hepburn 

Song— "Drink  to  Me  Only" Elks'  Quartet 

"Now  and  Then" Eesponse  by  General  John  C.  Black 

"The  Death  Gap" Eesponse  by  General  E.  N.  Adams 

Song— "Love's  Old  Song" Elks'  Quartet 

"The  Eeign  of  Peace" Eesponse  by  E.  G.  Caldwell 

Eecitation General  J.  H.  Stibbs 

Song — "Auld  Lang  Syne" Elks'  Quartet  and  Audience 


—76— 


THE  FOLLOWING    MEMBERS    OF    THE    FOURTH    IOWA 

VETERAN  INFANTRY  ATTENDED  THE  REUNION 

AT  COUNCIL  BLUFFS.  OCTOBER  10-11,  1911. 


Adkins,  J.  B.,  Company  A,  (with  wife),  Milton,  Iowa. 

Alderman,  J.  P.,  Company  B,  (with  wife),  Ames,  Iowa. 

Alexander,  Thos.  C,  Company  H,  (with  wife),  Oakland,  Iowa. 

Brown,  W.  E.,  Company  H,  Villisca,  Iowa. 

Bramhall,  E.  S.,  Company  E,  Indianola,  Iowa. 

Brooks,  0.  S.,  Company  K,  (with  wife),  Omaha,  Neb. 

Bird,  P.  E.,  Company  B,  Oakland,  Iowa. 

Ballou,  Richard,  Company  K,  Parnell,  Mo. 

Bnrgan,  E.  Y.,  Company  H,  (with  wife),  Corning,  Iowa. 

Couch,  Wm.  H.,  Company  E,  (with  wife),  Stuart,  Iowa. 

Cozad,  Wm.,  Company  K,  (one  of  family),  Red  Oak,  Iowa. 

Cooper,  Captain  D.  E.,  Company  F,  Lamar,  Colo. 

Cobb,  A.  L.,  Company  K,  Bedford,  Iowa. 

Campbell,  Captain  W.  H.,  Company  B,  (with  two  of  family), 
Anadarko,  Okla. 

Campbell,  Will,  Company  B,  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa. 

Denhart,  Casper  K,  Company  G,  (with  one  of  family).  Diag- 
onal, Iowa. 

Daily,  David  A.,  Company  K,  Lawrence,  Kas. 

Dixon,  John,  Company  E,  Chicago,  111. 

Dorrance,  J.  H.,  Company  F,  (with  wife),  Burkett,  Neb. 

Faurote,  J.  A.,  Company  F,  Winterset,  Iowa. 

Freshwater,  Wm.,  Company  G,  (with  one  of  family),  Mt.  Ayr, 
Iowa. 

Fees,  J.  W.,  Company  H,  Corning,  Iowa. 

Guilliams,  Burton  C,  Company  F,  Winterset,  Iowa. 

Greenlee,  Levi  T.,  Company  I,  Chicago,  111. 

Bibbs,  George  T.,  Company  B,  (with  son),  Canon  City.  Colo. 

Hopper.  J.  Francis,  Company  A,  Omaha,  Neb. 

Harris,  Pleasant  M.,  Company  K,  (with  one  of  family),  New 
Market.  Iowa. 

Howser,  George  L.',  Company  E,  Minden,  Neb. 

Holliday.  M.  I.,  Company  B,  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa. 

Kindblade,  S.  C,  Company  G,  (with  wife  and  daughter),  Yates 
Center,  Kas. 

—77— 


King,  A.  D.,  Company  K,  (with  wife),  Baton  Rouge,  La. 

King,  Peter  C,  Company  I.  Chicago.  111. 

Kindblade,  G.  A.,  Company  G,  McPherson,  Kas. 

Lewis,  James,  Company  E,  Ankeny,  Iowa. 

Lambson,  J.  P.,  Company  A,  Lexington,  Xeb. 

Lacey,  Henry  D.,  Company  E,  Hillsdale.  Okla. 

Masters,  Samuel,  Company  C,  Malvern,  Iowa. 

McCool,  I.  W.,  Company  C,  Bayard,  Iowa. 

Marshall,  D.  B.,  Company  G,  Mt.  Ayr,  Iowa. 

Milligan,  I.,  Company  D,  Marquette,  Kas. 

Mosledge,  R.  E.,  Company  K,  (with  wife).  Hastings,  Xeb. 

McCorkle,  W.  J.,  Company  E,  Stuart,  Iowa. 

Xorthup,  C.  P.,  Company  B,  (with  wife  and  son),  Des  Moines, 
Iowa. 

O'Brien,  C.  W.,  Company  I,  (with  two  of  family),  Linden,  Iowa. 

Plummer,  A.  L.,  Company  E,  (with  wife),  Altoona,  Iowa. 

Price.  Thos.,  Company  E,  (with  one  of  family) ,  Carlisle,  Iowa. 

Reeves,  Isaac,  Company  E,  Stuart,  Iowa. 

Rockwell,  Robert  B.,  Company  K.  (with  son),  Bedford,  Iowa. 

Rowe,  Jacob,  Company  A,  Macksburg,  Iowa. 

Robinson,  G-.  A.,  Company  I,  McPherson,  Kas. 

Sheldon,  B.  0.,  Company  A,  (with  two  of  family),  Tabor,  Iowa. 

Surber,  A.  H.,  Company  E,  (with  one  of  family),  Waterburv, 
Xebraska. 

Sims,  George  C,  Company  E,  Des  Moines,  Iowa. 

Starr,  Adam  C,  Company  H,  Nodaway,  Iowa. 

Shoemaker,  James  L.,  Company  K,  (with  one  of  family),  Wil- 
son ville,  Xeb. 

Soles,  P.  B.,  Company  G,  Mt.  Ayr,  Iowa. 

Tibbies,  C.  E.,  Company  F,  Chicago,  111. 

Thayer,  David  A.,  Company  K,  (with  one  of  family).  Muscotah, 
Kansas. 

Tucker,  George  W.,  Company  B,  (with  wife),  Xeola,  Iowa. 

Torrence,  B.  S.,  Company  A,  (with  two  of  family),  Tabor,  Iowa. 

Thorngate,  Miss  Ethel,  The  Xonpareil,  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa, 
daughter  of  Veteran  of  Fourth  Iowa. 

Thorngate,  Miss  Ella,  Twenty-sixth  avenue  and  Harney  street, 
Omaha,  Xeb.,  daughter  of  Veteran  of  Fourth  Iowa. 

Venard,  Sylvester,  Company  A.  (with  two  daughters),  Los  An- 
geles, Cal. 

Vanscoyk,  A.  J.,  Company  E,   (with  wife).  Carlisle,  Iowa. 

—78  — 


Weavers,  George,  Company  A,  (with  two  of  family),  Tabor,  la. 
West,  Ed  E.,  Company  E,  (with  wife  and  daughter),  Polk,  la. 
Walkup,  Alpheus,  Company  H,  (with  wife),  Ord,  Neb. 
Wright,  W.  C,  Company  K,  Bedford,  Iowa. 
Zink,  H.  C,  Company  F,  McPherson.  Kas. 

Members  of  Fourth  Iowa  Who  Wrote  They  Were  Unable  to 
Attend  Eeunion. 

Ames,  Amos,  Company  H,  Afton,  Iowa. 

Bird,  Anderson,  Company  F,  Atwood,  Kansas. 

Brinson,  William,  Company  F,  Winterset,  Iowa. 

Bixler,  William,  Company  H,  Corning,  Iowa. 

Brinkerhoff,  A.  M.,  Company  H,  Oakland,  Cal. 

Doughty,  L.  B.,  Company  E,  Aledo,  111. 

Flick,  James  P.,  Company  K,  Bedford,  Iowa. 

Folden,  Burnett  J.,  Company  A,  Thurman,  Iowa. 

Flood,  J.  H.,  Company  K,  Red  Oak,  Iowa. 

Glasgow,  S.  L.,  Company  I,  Chicago,  111. 

Gamble,  Lieutenant  James  D.,  Company  D,  Knoxville,  Iowa. 

Hill,  Charles  W.,  Company  C,  Guthrie  Center,  Iowa. 

Hills,  Isaac  C,  Company  A,  Dos  Palos,  Cal. 

Jarvis,  A.  B.,  Company  H,  Waverly,  Iowa. 

Keplinger,  John,  Company  I,  Corydon,  Iowa. 

Kirk,  David  S.,  Company  I,  Tarkio,  Mo. 

Knight,  Dill,  Company  A,  Pulaski,  Iowa. 

Hight,  G.  W.,  Company  H,  Corning,  Iowa. 

Laing,  G.  J.,  Company  I,  Corydon,  Iowa. 

McKean,  Cornelius,  Company  E,  Perry,  Iowa. 

Pearce,  Elijah  J.,  Company  H,  Danville,  hid. 

Pearson,  T.  J.,  Company  H,  Los  Angeles,  Cal. 

Ratlin*,  Lemuel,  Company  I,  McPherson,  Kas. 

S  locum,  N.  E.,  Company  I,  Humeston,  Iowa. 

Smith,  George  W.,  Company  H,  Grant,  Iowa. 

Townsend,  J.  B.,  Company  K,  Stevensville,  Montana. 

Teal,  Captain  Fred,  Company  D,  Los  Angeles,  Cal. 

Wing,  Eli  S.,  Company  A,  Soldiers  Home,  Cal. 

Members  of  Fourth  Iowa  Written  to  and  Not  Heard  From. 

Albin,  James  P.,  Company  G,  Janesville,  Wis. 
Arterburn,  B.,  Company  K,  Boulder,  Colo. 
Binns,  Wm.  H.,  Company  A,  Redfield,  Iowa. 

—79— 


Blaekman,  Henry  R.,  Company  A,  Columbus,  Neb. 

Burke,  Hugh  M.,  Company  B,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 

Barlow.  S.  C,  Company  E,  Dawson,  Neb. 

Brown,  Wm.  E.,  Company  H,  Villisca,  Iowa. 

Brooks,  Alvin  M.,  Company  K,  Aft  on,  Okla. 

Carrick,  Al,  Company  H,  Beard,  Iowa. 

Dellinger,  Henry,  Company  H,  Plattsmouth,  Neb. 

Dunsmore,  Daniel  G.,  Company  F,  Denver,  Colo. 

Dilley,  Robert  A,  Company  C,  Orlando,  Okla.     , 

Ehlers,  Henry,  Company  I,  Ehlers,  Iowa. 

Evans,  Jesse  B.,  Company  F,  Princeton,  Mo. 

Fagan,  Robert,  Marshalltown,  Iowa. 

Faulkins,  Chas.,  Ryan,  Iowa. 

Frante,  John,  Company  F,  Winterset,  Iowa. 

Gandy,  Felix,  Company  E,  557  Armour  Avenue,  Long  Beach, 
Cal.,  (letter  returned,  not  found). 

Gibbs,  Francis  M.,  Company  I,  Corydon,  Iowa. 

Helm,  Archer,  Company  K,  Goldfield,  Nevada. 

Lloyd,  Captain  G.  W.,  Company  B,  Mondamin,  Iowa. 

Larrimen,  John  W.,  Company  H,  Corning,  Iowa,  (letter  re- 
turned, not  found). 

McReynolds,  T.  P.,  Company  A,  Wellman,  Iowa. 

Patterson,  John  H.,  Company  E,  Osceola,  Iowa. 

Pomeroy,  Isaac  J.,  Company  B,  Lee  Center,  111. 

Preston,  Bernard,  Company  G,  Denver,  Colo. 

Drather,  W.  G.,  Company  H,  Bloomfield,  Neb. 

Randall,  Thomas  J.,  Company  A,  Dallas  Center,  Iowa. 

Runkle,  John,  Company  F,  St.  Charles,  Iowa. 

Spence,  Abraham  L.,  Company  E,  Palmyra,  Iowa. 

Stiffler,  George  L.,  Company  F,  Winterset,  Iowa. 

Shay,  Joshua,  Company  K,  Maloy,  Iowa. 

Smith,  Clark  T.,  Company  K,  Santa  Barbara,  Cal. 

Stombauch,  Abraham,  Company  E,  Villisca,  Iowa. 

Smith,  George  W.,  Company  H,  Villisca,  Iowa. 

Young,  Anderson,  Company  H,  Nodaway,  Iowa,  (letter  re- 
turned, not  found). 


(Comrades  receiving-  this  booklet  and  having-  any  knowledge  of  above 
named  Comrades  or  any  others  of  the  Fourth  Iowa  not  named  please  in- 
form me.— G.  M.  DODGE.) 


-80- 


MEMBERS  OF  DODGE'S  SECOND  IOWA  BATTERY  WHO 
ATTENDED  THE  REUNION. 


Buttolph,  J.  R.,  Lohrville,  Iowa. 

Conger,  Ed.,  De  Soto,  Iowa. 

Covalt,  A.  W.,  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa. 

Covalt,  John,  Alliance,  Neb. 

Crowell,  Jesse  H.,  Dale  City,  Iowa. 

Ferguson,  C.  A.,  Adel,  Iowa. 

Fish,  J.  M.,  Adel,  Iowa. 

Guittar,  Theodore,  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa. 

Harrington,  I.  R.,  Alton,  Missouri. 

Ingrim,  Joseph  T.,  Salem,  Iowa. 

Jewell,  Frank,  Central  City,  Neb. 

Learning,  William  J.,  Kimball,  Neb. 

Norton,  C.  H.,  Avoca,  Iowa. 

Phillips,  L.  F.,  Gravity,  Iowa. 

Reed,  Captain  J.  R.,  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa. 

Spoor,  Captain  N.  T.,  Omaha,  Neb. 

Snyder,  J.  E.,  Adel,  Iowa. 

Whitaker,  D.  J.,  R.  F.  D.  No.  3,  Maynard,  Minn. 

Members  Unable  to  Attend. 

Blyler,  F.  F.,  Des  Moines,  Iowa. 
Jenkins,  J.  T.,  Brayton,  Iowa. 
Lewis,  Joseph,  Dingle,  Idaho. 


MEMBERS   OF    DODGE'S   BAND    WHO    ATTENDED   THE 

REUNION. 


Forgrave,  L.  W.,  St.  Joseph,  Missouri. 
Lister,  John  F.,  (with  wife),  Newton,  Iowa. 

Unable  to  Attend. 

Porter,  Fred,  Grinnell,  la. 

Failer,  Samuel,  Newton,  Iowa. 

Skiffs,  V.  W.,  633  N  E  avenue  Oak  Park,  III. 


—81- 


PRESS  OF 

THE  MONARCH   PRINTING  CO. 

COUNCIL  BLUFFS,   IOWA 


